BBC ban McCartney’s Jacko impression

The BBC has reportedly scrapped an interview it had recorded with Sir Paul McCartney after he allegedly gave an impromptu impression of the singer Michael Jackson, which, according to sources at the corporation, apparently breached their strict race relations codes.

The Daily Mail claims that when the Sir Paul was asked to comment on the fact that Jackson owns most of the Beatles archive, which he brought in 1985 for £33m, he began mimicking the 50-year-old American singer's voice.

"McCartney started to reply in this high-pitched Jacko voice," says the Mail's source, "and apparently it was very funny. But the BBC - deeply nervous, perhaps because of the Jonathan Ross-Russell Brand affair – has declined to broadcast the interview."

"They say it's a 'trans-racial impression' – that's what they say in a memo – and even by Macca that is beyond the pale." ·