BBC Upheld Complaints Over Victoria Beckham Remark on Have I Got News For You
The corporation's executive complaints unit ruled a comment about Victoria Beckham was not editorially justified.
The BBC has upheld complaints regarding a comment made about Victoria Beckham on the satirical news quiz Have I Got News For You. The show, which aired on November 7 last year and was hosted by Katherine Ryan, featured a reference to an email allegedly sent by Sir David Beckham that contained the c-word.
During the program, host Katherine Ryan stated, "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." This remark prompted complaints from two viewers who deemed it "gratuitously offensive."
The BBC's Executive Complaints Unit (ECU) agreed with the complainants, finding that while the inclusion of the c-word itself was editorially justified by Sir David Beckham's alleged use of it and the subsequent satirical discussion, the comment equating Victoria Beckham to the offensive word lacked justification.
"In the ECU's judgement, while the inclusion of the c-word in the programme derived editorial justification from David Beckham's alleged use of it and the satirical reflections this prompted, there was no such justification for a comment which presented Victoria Beckham as equivalent to a particularly offensive word," the ECU statement read.
As a result of the ECU's finding, a revised version of the program, edited in light of the ruling, will replace the current version available on iPlayer. The ECU noted that its editorial guidelines do not require programs to avoid causing offense but stipulate that any offense taken must be editorially justified.
The ECU had previously addressed viewer complaints about strong language in the program in November. At that time, the unit stated that the use of strong language was editorially justified because the panel was discussing a current news story about Sir David Beckham and directly quoting from leaked emails. The statement also mentioned that it is common practice to provide a verbal warning at the start of post-watershed programs containing very strong language, which was done for this episode. The BBC reiterated that it never intends to offend its audience.