BBC upholds complaints over Victoria Beckham joke on Have I Got News For You

The BBC’s Executive Complaints Unit (ECU) has upheld complaints regarding a joke made on the comedy program ‘Have I Got News For You’ that targeted Victoria Beckham. The incident occurred during a November episode hosted by comedian Katherine Ryan.

During a segment discussing an allegedly leaked email from David Beckham that contained a vulgarity, Ryan remarked, ‘I don’t know that we are allowed to broadcast the c-word, but you did reference Victoria Beckham earlier and we’ll allow that.’

The ECU ruled that while the use of the offensive term itself was editorially justified due to the context of the news story, there was ‘no such justification for a comment which presented Victoria Beckham as equivalent to a particularly offensive word.’ The unit described the remark as gratuitously offensive.

As a result, the BBC has edited the episode to remove the joke, and the revised version will replace the current upload on BBC iPlayer. Show producer Jimmy Mulville criticized the investigation, calling it a ‘complete waste of money’ and a ‘waste of the licence fee.’ Katherine Ryan also addressed the ruling on social media, noting she was experiencing ‘matrescence’ at the time of the recording.