Jill Scott opens up on Marlon Harewood's wife's message after viral 'smash' video

Jill Scott has opened up on the viral 'smash' video involving herself and former footballer Marlon Harewood after his wife spoke out on social media.

Former England Women international Scott, a regular participant on the Stick to Football podcast, recounted how she was 'smashed' by ex-Premier League star Harewood in a charity match.

Scott played in a Sellebrity Soccer charity game on Sunday and her side faced a team coached by Danny Dyer team featuring the former West Ham man Harewood.

That prompted Manchester United icon Roy Keane to sculpt a crude joke with an innuendo, using Scott's words to form a sexual joke.

The Irishman cheekily quipped: "And what was the game like?" prompting laughter from guests such as Gary Neville and Paul Scholes.

"Roy you can't say that!" Wright responded whilst still laughing. "That's got to be [cut out of the edit]..." Keane, who was still grinning, offered a defence for his remark when he said: "Oh no, what was the game like?"

To her credit, Scott saw the funny side of the joke and told the producers to keep it in the show as Scholes claimed: "That's a step too far, that."

Now Scott has spoken about the incident and how she was left dumbfounded after being taunted by members of the public about the viral video footage.

“I left the house the next morning [after Roy Keane’s Marlon Harewood joke] and people were shouting at me on the street, “How’s Marlon?” and I thought, “Who the hell is Marlon?” Scott said, speaking on the Stick to Football podcast, brought to you by Sky Bet.

"The clip went viral, but I felt bad because it wasn’t even that big a smash – not like that – it wasn’t a big tackle. His wife even posted about it, and he reposted it himself, so I think he was okay with it. He was trending on X.”

It was all received as light-hearted banter in the end though, as Harewood tagged Scott in a post on X (formerly Twitter).

Posting a clip of the video, the 45-year-old said: "Oh Jill, you’ve been stitched up there!" to which Scott, 37, replied saying: "Sorry Marlon!"

Scott has addressed how laughter and jokes can be used as a necessary tool to break down gender stereotypes after engaging in what many might perceive to be 'laddish banter'.

“The lads take the mick out of me just as I take the mick out of them," she told Express Sport. “Sometimes I think, you can use humour to break down barriers and we’ll have laughs and jokes.

“Look when I was in the women’s game, in the changing rooms, we probably had worse banter than you see on the podcast.

“It’s not like we’re protected because we’re females. For me, it really suits my personality,” she continued. “I was always up for a laugh, as soon as I crossed that white line I was so serious as a player.”