Katherine Ryan makes first public appearance since apologising to Victoria Beckham over 'stupid joke' after BBC upheld complaints over slur

Katherine Ryan made her first public appearance on Sunday since she apologised to Victoria Beckham for making a 'stupid joke'.

The comedian, 52, smiled for the cameras in a glitzy green dress as she attended the 20th anniversary of Wicked's West End show at the Apollo Victoria Theatre.

Katherine's outing comes a day after Victoria showed off her huge bouquet of flowers gifted from her supportive husband David after the BBC upheld complaints about the comedian linking an obscene term to Victoria on Have I Got News For You.

The fashion designer gushed 'I love you' to David in an Instagram post after he surprised her on Friday.

Viewers complained after Katherine seemingly referred to the Spice Girls star, 52, 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 Katherine, the segment discussed David 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 Katherine's subsequent joke about his wife.

Katherine 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.'

Katherine 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 Victoria after 'to make it clear it was a stupid joke and I didn't mean any harm towards you at all'.