BBC defends Katherine Ryan’s ‘straight white men’ joke after snowflakes rush to complain
Katherine Ryan performing at Latitude Festival 2019 (Carla Speight/Getty)
The BBC was hit with complaints after Katherine Ryan joked about the confidence of straight white men on All That Glitters: Britain’s Next Jewellery Star.
The cynical Canadian comedian hosts the new BBC 2 show, which sees eight jewellers battle it out to become the next big name in jewellery.
But some viewers didn’t appreciate Ryan’s brand of humour as she gave a pep talk to Sri Lankan-born designer Tamara, joking she should try to “think like a white man”.
“You need to really back yourself,” she said as Tamara struggled with one of the challenges. “Do you know how confident a straight white man would be right now?
“Think about Boris Johnson, how pleased he’d be right now,” she suggested.
The tongue-in-cheek comment soared straight past certain fragile viewers, who complained Katherine Ryan was “racist” to highlight the privileges of straight white men.
“Absolutely disgusted you did not edit this racist segment out,” raged one on social media. “Absolutely despair at how we cannot even feel comfortable and respected watching our supposed British Broadcasting Corporation.”
‘Think like a straight, white man’
Do i think any differently from anyone else who’s not white and/or straight?
Unfortunate comment there….#AllThatGlitters
— George Damianos (@GDamianos) April 13, 2021
#AllThatGlitters Think like a straight white man??? Was that really necessary??
— Susan Clayton ??? (@SusanCl89538461) April 13, 2021
@BBC #AllThatGlitters Canadian host coming out with phrases like ‘think like a white man’ on a taxpayer funded show.
BBC – B stands for British so employ British talent
Equality does not mean attack white people who make up 90% of UK who fund you !
— Dr Max Davison. Better society now for disabled. (@BurnheadMax) April 14, 2021
#AllThatGlitters @bbc can stick their licence fee where the sun doesn’t shine after allowing racist comments like that
— Chris G (@dantom999) April 13, 2021
@BBC Your crass, high handed response would appear to be a green light for man/men to make equally sexist/racist remarks about women who are other than white? #katherineryan #allthatglitters pic.twitter.com/0kgl1YRGmX
— oppositejohn (@oppositejohn) April 17, 2021
Responding to the complaints, the BBC defended Katherine’s joke and upheld the decision to include it.
A spokesperson said: “Many viewers of this programme will be familiar with Katherine Ryan’s well-established style of comedy after multiple appearances on BBC comedy programmes over the years.
“Comedy is one of the most subjective areas of programming and we can assure you we never set out to offend viewers with anything we show.”
The series continues tomorrow at 8pm on BBC Two.
