Price slams repeat of Boyle show

Katie Price with her son Harvey
12 April 2012

Katie Price has condemned Channel 4 for repeating Frankie Boyle's show containing a controversial joke he made about her disabled son.

Broadcasting watchdog Ofcom has launched an investigation after Price accused the comic of being a "bully" in the wake of his comments about her son Harvey, who suffers from septo-optic dysplasia and autism, on his show Tramadol Nights.

In a statement, Price said: "By repeating Frankie Boyle's show, Channel 4 are embracing and exploiting discrimination. They are saying it is ok to ridicule people - even children - for disability in a way they would not dare over race or sexual orientation.

"The people who control the channel are endorsing this behaviour and it is disgusting. Even the fact that Ofcom are investigating the first broadcast has not made them divert from this path. "This issue is not about me, other than Harvey is my son. This issue is about discrimination."

She added: "By broadcasting these vile sexual comments about Harvey, and then insisting on repeating them, Channel Four are trying to take us back to an era when discrimination was accepted. They mustn't be allowed to get away with it."

Her comments came as charity Mencap became the latest voice to take Boyle to task over the joke. Esther Foreman, its campaigns manager, labelled the material "disgusting", adding it propagated "ignorant views" about disability.

She said: "It is disgusting that Frankie Boyle has chosen to target a child with a disability with these so-called jokes. Ignorant views like this help to fuel the verbal and physical abuse that people with a disability, and their families, are regularly subjected to. Comedy like this takes us back to the dark ages.

"How can we eradicate negative stereotypes and expect the general public to treat people with a disability with the respect they deserve when such vile jokes are aired on national television? How can Channel 4 justify broadcasting this? The answers they have given so far are not satisfactory in the slightest?"

A spokesman for Ofcom earlier said: "We can confirm that we have received a complaint from Katie Price. Having considered this and other viewers' concerns, we have now launched an investigation into the show."

Head of Comedy, C4, Shane Allen said: "We are aware that Frankie Boyle's comedy can be very challenging which is why we have gone to careful lengths in scrutinising the material editorially, in scheduling the series appropriately and by giving clear and strong warnings into each of the programmes. "We think that it is important that a space on terrestrial TV exists for comedy that takes risks and pushes boundaries and we stand by our original decision to broadcast the programme."

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in