Have I Got News For You complaints over Victoria Beckham slur are upheld by BBC bosses as Katherine Ryan apologises for 'stupid joke'

The BBC has upheld complaints about comedian Katherine Ryan linking an obscene term to Victoria Beckham on Have I Got News For You.

Viewers complained after Ms Ryan seemingly referred to the fashion designer as a c-word.

An internal investigation into the episode of the satirical show in November 2025 came after two viewers said the remark was 'gratuitously offensive'.

On the programme, which was hosted by Ms Ryan, 43, the segment discussed David Beckham allegedly using the word in an email to his publicist where he expressed outrage at missing out on a knighthood in 2013 (he has since been knighted). He apparently referred to the honours committee as 'a bunch of cs'.

The BBC's Executive Complaints Unit (ECU) ruled that panellist Maisie Adam's use of the word 'c' was justified as it referred to Sir David's own alleged use of the term. 

However the ECU ruling concluded that there was no editorial justification for Ms Ryan's subsequent joke about his wife.

Ms Ryan said in the recording: '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.'

In its ruling, the ECU said: 'There was no such justification for a comment which presented Victoria Beckham as equivalent to a particularly offensive word.'

Ms Ryan has since posted a video to her social media in response, blaming the incident on her being the mother of a newborn. 

She said: 'At that time, though there is no defence, I was suffering from a condition called matrescence. I was in that building with a ten-day-old baby. Should I have left the house?

'This is gonna be a tough one for the feminists because I was a woman going to work but I did call another woman a c. Sometimes I forget that celebrities are not my friends. If I had called Jimmy Carr a c, he wouldn't have minded.

'But this was described by the BBC as a slur, as though c are part of a protected group.

'If you watched it on the day, it was clearly a joke and the whole audience went [gasp] and then I said, 'Woah, I love her'.'

She also shared a screenshot of a message she sent to Lady Beckham after 'to make it clear it was a stupid joke and I didn't mean any harm towards you at all'.