BBC remove 'offensive' Victoria Beckham joke from Have I Got News For You
Have I Got News For You viewers were shocked by Katherine Ryan's joke directed at Victoria Beckham.
The BBC has been forced to remove a crude joke about Victoria Beckham from Have I Got News For You.
The broadcaster's Executive Complaints Unit has taken action following the November 7, 2025 episode where host Katherine Ryan referenced the C-word, which had been used by her and Maisie Adam in reference to Sir David Beckham.
The retired footballer allegedly sent an email calling the honours committee "a bunch of c****" after previously being rejected for a knighthood.
Maisie quipped: "It would have been nice and maybe poetic if [King] Charles had got his own back by knighting him and then going, 'Arise, you c***'. That’d be nice."
Katherine replied: "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."
After a shocked reaction, she added: "I like her! I wasn’t expecting that response."
Two viewers complained, and now the BBC's Executive Complaints Unit has explained that "the relevant BBC editorial guidelines do not require programmes to avoid giving offence but do require that any offence should be editorially justified".
They noted: "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."
However, they insisted "there was no such justification for a comment which presented Victoria Beckham as equivalent to a particularly offensive word".
The complaints unit noted: "A version of the programme edited in the light of the finding will replace the version currently on iPlayer."
Some viewers on social media took issue with the C-word being used at all, but the BBC defended this at the time.
They said in a statement: "As a post-watershed entertainment programme, Have I Got News for You has always covered and discussed news stories in a humorous, often ironic, manner.
"The inclusion of any strong language is carefully thought through and it is never our intention to offend our audience.
"In this particular case, we feel that the use of the strong language was editorially justified as the panel were discussing a current news story about Sir David Beckham and directly quoting from leaked emails in which he had used the word in question, leading to further discussion.
"As is common practice for programmes that contain very strong language, we mitigated potential offence by adding a clear verbal warning at the start of the programme."
