Ofcom will investigate Rowan Atkinson’s foul-mouthed Comic Relief parody of the Archbishop of Canterbury, it announced today.
The comic provoked outrage last month with a pre-watershed sketch in which he exhorted viewers not to ‘s*** your neighbour’ and to ‘give us your bloomin’ wonga’.
The broadcasting regulator will decide whether the 58-year-old’s offensive language was justified and whether the sketch breached ‘generally accepted standards’.
Investigation: Rowan Atkinson provoked outrage last month with a pre-watershed sketch in which he exhorted viewers not to 's*** your neighbour' and to 'give us your bloomin' wonga'
Investigation: Ofcom will decide whether the 58-year-old's offensive language was justified and whether the sketch breached 'generally accepted standards'
The watchdog revealed it will also launch a probe into BBC drama The Village, after it showed a man attempting to hang himself from a tree, and into the corporation’s coverage of the Oxford and Cambridge Boat Race.
More than 200 people complained to the BBC after the victorious Oxford cox Oskar Zorrilla repeatedly used the word ‘f***’ to motivate his team.
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Producers were criticised for not turning off his microphone during the live broadcast.
Mr Atkinson’s six-minute sketch on March 15 prompted more than 2,200 complaints to the BBC and 484 to Ofcom.
Criticism: Mr Atkinson's six-minute sketch on March 15 prompted more than 2,200 complaints to the BBC and 484 to Ofcom
Complaints: About a quarter felt it had caused religious offence, while the rest said its crude language should not have been aired before 9pm
About a quarter felt it had caused religious offence, while the rest said its crude language should not have been aired before 9pm.
'The performance could be seen as insulting to Christians as a whole'
Rodney Atkinson
The BBC later apologised and removed the segment from its online iPlayer.
Mr Atkinson’s brother Rodney also criticised the performance, telling the Daily Mail: ‘My main problem was the smuttiness … The use of the word “s***” was crude and rather pathetic.
Separate probe: More than 200 people complained to the BBC after the victorious Oxford cox Oskar Zorrilla (right) repeatedly used the word 'f***' to motivate his team during the Boat Race
Another investigation: The watchdog revealed it will also launch a probe into BBC drama The Village (file picture), after it showed a man attempting to hang himself from a tree
‘The performance could be seen as insulting to Christians as a whole … I was appalled by it.’
Unimpressed: Mr Atkinson's brother Rodney also criticised the performance
In his sketch, Mr Atkinson dressed as Church of England leader Justin Welby to give a mock fireside homily.
At one point he said: ‘Jesus said love your neighbour and let’s be perfectly clear, because there’s a lot of misunderstanding about this, it doesn’t mean s*** your neighbour. He hates that, he absolutely hates that.’
He added: ‘When I was a young man – and I stress a heterosexual young man with quite a few girlfriends, though no tongues, obviously, teenagers beware – charity was much less fun than it is now.
‘However, behind the fun, or a**ing around as I like to call it – God doesn’t mind swearing, you know – behind the fun there is a more serious message.’
At the time, a BBC spokesman said Comic Relief is ‘known for pushing at the boundaries of comedy alongside heartfelt appeal films’ but added: ‘To any viewers we may have offended, we apologise.’
Yesterday, an Ofcom spokesman said: ‘Ofcom can confirm that it is currently investigating whether the use of offensive language on Comic Relief: Funny for Money was justified by context and whether the BBC applied generally accepted standards in the programme.’
Ofcom also ruled an episode of Alan Titchmarsh’s ITV chat show had breached broadcasting regulations.
It said an interview with actress Patsy Kensit about her struggle to lose weight promoted diet firm Weight Watchers, which she is paid to advertise.