Celebrity Traitors star James Blunt has addressed confusion over his full name after the pronunciation of his last name became a topic of discussion on social media. The singer, who was born James Hillier Blount, responded to a report that claimed to "unearth" his real name, replying: "By 'unearthed', you mean 'is on the first line of his Wikipedia page.'"
Stage name explained
In a separate response, the 52-year-old added: "And for clarity, Blount and Blunt are pronounced the same way. But I simplified it to Blunt as I was tired of people rhyming my name with 'count.'"
Fans were impressed by his response, with one commenting: "He's actually a better comedian than he is a musician." Another wrote: "I bloody love James Blunt, he really doesn't mind taking the p**s out of himself," while a third added: "I admire you for setting up the obvious joke." A fourth fan responded: "You're a F***ING LEGEND fella, I know where you want folk to go with rhyming your name."
Previous clarification and BBC reprimand
This is not the first time the TV star has addressed the pronunciation. In 2014, he posted: "My real name is James Blount, but I changed it as people teased me that it rhymed with 'count.'"
The clarification comes days after the former British Army Captain was reprimanded by the BBC for a social media post. He had posted the official press photo promoting his addition to the Celebrity Traitors line-up, tagging the brand and captioning it: "The name's Blunt. James Blunt," which reportedly breached the broadcaster's guidelines.
According to the Metro, a BBC spokesperson stated: "The BBC has clear guidelines in place around commercial activity which we take very seriously, and players have been reminded of this. The social media posts referred to have been taken down."
The BBC editorial guidelines available online prohibit stars from using the corporation's programs or branding to promote products and services. The source added that the BBC and Studio Lambert were unaware of the posts and, once alerted, spoke to all parties, and the post was removed from X immediately.
According to his post, Blunt had been supplied with the outfit by tailor Barrington Ayre, although the nature of any arrangement between the musician and the tailor has not been confirmed.
