The Radio 1 Breakfast Show curse has struck again. Chris Evans imploded under a pile of beer cans and Gazza. Last week, the incumbent, Chris Moyles, had an embarrassing hissy fit over the airwaves. His beef was that he hadn't been paid since July.
"I'm very, very angry at being put in this position," he told listeners in the 20-minute tirade, taking a leaf out of the Ashley Cole school of big baby tactics. "It's a huge lack of respect and a massive FU to me."
What are his bosses thinking? Was not paying him a passive-aggressive management tactic? Were they hoping he was going to flounce off, rather than spend a notice period sledging them?
Whatever the explanation, his listeners weren't that sympathetic: Moyles, pictured, earns £500,000 a year.
Listeners Twittered that if he went on hunger strike in protest he'd be dead in 16 years and wondered if he hadn't been paid for two months because his pay was performance-related. A sarcastic JustGiving page was launched – "Please donate so I can eat" – which has so far raised £152.33, and a satirical charity single Do They Know It's Chris Moyles? is available to download. This is all far wittier than the average Moyles joke.
The next day, the BBC coughed up but Moyles was unrepentant, refusing to apologise for his rant. Nothing much can stop him: Halle Berry suggesting he's a racist; Stonewall calling for his head over various homophobic outbursts.
The 36-year-old dumped his girlfriend of eight years earlier this month, after telling her he wasn't ready for children. Newly single, perhaps he feels exposed. He looks around at his youthful fellow presenters on Radio 1 and wonders: am I the new dinosaur? With characteristic charm he once described John Peel as a Kenny Everett-in-waiting "because Kenny Everett's dead and it's only a matter of time before John pops his clogs." Peel retorted by describing him as a "DLT [Dave Lee Travis]-in-waiting". As ever Mr Peel's verdict was spot on.