Former Manchester City defender Micah Richards has joked that he will no longer laugh on TV after being accused of being disrespectful to Roy Keane following Sunday's Manchester derby.
Richards burst out laughing after Sky Sports colleague and former Manchester United captain Roy Keane brought an end to his explosive rant about the Reds' performance, in the wake of their 4-1 thumping at the Etihad Stadium. Keane, who has built up a hugely popular on-screen relationship with Richards in recent years, slammed United's players and grabbed the viewers' full attention.
Richards, however, was unable to contain himself. As soon as Keane had completed his near-three-minute monologue, Sky Sports host David Jones looked across to Richards and said: "Micah is enjoying this."
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But by the time Jones had finished his sentence, Richards burst out laughing in hysterics, but his response did not gauge a smile from Keane. He has since been accused of being disrespectful of the former Republic of Ireland international on social media, and he felt it was right to issue a response.
Taking to Twitter on Monday, Richards, in response to being classed as being disrespectful towards his colleague, said: "Deary, deary me! When [Graeme] Souness says to me: 'Forget everything you've just said' or [Gary] Neville says to me: 'Stop ranting, you're not making sense,' I don’t see you saying it's disrespectful to me so stop this nonsense.
"It's really not that deep. We all have respect for each other."
A few hours later, on Monday evening, Richards elaborated further on his tweet whilst appearing on national radio, telling BBC Radio 5 Live : "I'm not allowed to laugh now… honestly, I just won't laugh. Shall I?
"I'll be serious for the rest of the show. Shall I? I'm taking back one of my best assets in broadcasting.
"I'll just zip it. Is that what you want me to do? I won't be laughing for the foreseeable."
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