WARNING, GRAPHIC LANGUAGE: Football presenting icon Richard Keys has been well known for being very hairy – and he’s revealed just how far he’s gone to remove it
Richard Keys has sent football fans into meltdown. The former Sky Sports presenter has revealed he’s had laser treatment on an intimate body part to remove hair in a blunt X exchange that quickly went viral.
Richard has long been the butt of a running joke about his extreme body hair. The 69-year-old became one of the best-known faces of Sky Sports’ Premier League coverage in the 1990s and 2000s.
But among viewers, he also became notorious for having exceptionally hairy hands. When flatscreen TVs and High Definition (HD) broadcasting arrived in the late 2000s and early 2010s, fans claimed his hand hair looked even more obvious on screen.
This scrutiny earned him the nicknames “The Werewolf” and “TV’s Hairiest Man”. Back in 2012, it was widely reported in the British press that Richard had finally undergone laser hair removal on his hands and knuckles, allegedly to appease TV bosses and stop stadium chants.
This week, Richard accidentally reopened the whole saga with what was meant to be a routine football message. On Sunday (July 5), ahead of an England international match, he posted on X a pre-match message wishing good luck to the three lions.
But one X user was seemingly more focused on Richard’s visibly smooth hands and replied with the old joke: “You shaved your hands?” The sports expert consequently replied: “No, laser, and because you asked- also my bollocks [thumbs up emoji]”
Despite amusing the netizens with his aesthetic treatments, earlier this year, Richard sparked a very different kind of reactions. Back in March, he was slammed for his “tone-deaf” comments ahead of the Premier League action and off the back of Iranian missile strikes on Doha.
At the time, he posted on X: “Thoughts & prayers with everyone who has lost loved ones during these past few days of madness. I know this sounds trite but hopefully the football tonight @beINSPORTS_EN can act as a distraction for a short time?
“Stay safe.” As a result, fans slammed the sportsman, with Doha subject to Iranian missiles at the time, the Daily Star previously reported.
“Sorry loads have died, but we have Bournemouth v Brentford tonight, so every cloud hey,” one fan responded. While a second said: “He’s one of one isn’t he…”
“All the class and sensitivity of a house brick,” a third noted. As a fourth replied: “Yep. I’m sure Bournemouth vs Brentford will put a smile back on everyone’s faces…”
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