BBC Upholds Complaints Over Katherine Ryan’s Beckham Joke

The BBC Executive Complaints Unit upheld two viewer complaints about a joke Katherine Ryan made about Victoria Beckham on Have I Got News for You, finding that the remark lacked editorial justification. The broadcaster has replaced the episode on BBC iPlayer with an edited version that removes the line. Ryan made the remark while guest-hosting an episode broadcast on November 7, 2025. The programme was discussing a private 2013 email in which David Beckham allegedly used a highly offensive word. Ryan referred to the word and then said Victoria Beckham had also been referenced, adding that the programme would allow that. The ECU concluded that the discussion of David Beckham’s alleged language had editorial grounds, but that presenting his wife as equivalent to the word did not. The unit said BBC editorial guidelines do not require programmes to avoid causing offence, but do require that any offence be editorially justified. Two viewers had complained that Ryan’s remark was gratuitously offensive. The ECU’s finding was reported to BBC Content management, according to reports on the decision.