The BBC's Editorial Complaints Unit has found that a report from the news service wrongly implied that Bob Geldof's 1985 Band Aid tune "Do They Know It's Christmas" funded armed rebel groups in Etiopia. The BBC has issued an apology.

The BBC's report last march implied that Geldof didn't want to talk about the possibility that money from the massive Band Aid campaign had been diverted to buy weapons for the Tigrayan People's Liberation Front instead of for famine relief. In its apology, the news service said it "accepts we should have been more explicit in making it clear that the allegations did not relate specifically to Band Aid. Assignment did not make the allegation that relief aid provided by Band Aid was diverted. However the BBC acknowledges that this impression could have been taken from the programme." Geldof accepted their apology and all is well in the world.

Here's a live version of the song in London in 1985. Watching this, we almost forgot that Bono wasn't always a complete tool.

[Image via AP]