BBC finally acts to stop anti-Gypsy humour

Ben Miller, one half of the long-running comedy TV duo Armstrong and Miller, has been stopped from using anti-Gypsy humour by the BBC. The move comes after years of the Gypsy and Traveller community campaigning against and complaining about unfair representation on the BBC.

Miller admitted having a 'debate' with BBC bosses after he planned to use the word Gypsy. He claimed he wanted to use the word to highlight racist attitudes in Britain in the 1970's but that the BBC tried to block him because it was unacceptable. Mr Miller later admitted to the Daily Mail he had now dropped the planned use of the word 'gypsies' from the sketch about public information films. He said after discussions he had decided to use a different word so that the target of the joke was clearer and it was funnier.

Speaking in November's issue of FHM Magazine Mr Miller said: 'We're having a debate at the moment with the BBC over whether we can say gypsies, because they say gypsies is a racist term, and you think "Yes it is but that's the point that we're making, that we were more racist in the 70s than we are now".'

But following a request to explain his comments further, the comedian, whose Armstrong and Miller show returns next month, now appears to have backed down. He told FHM: 'We wanted to make fun of racist public information films from the seventies, and considered using the word "gypsy" in that context.

But without knowing what the joke was it’s unclear whether the comic was attempting to mock racism or was actually being racist. The BBC itself claims its intervention was not about the use of the word Gypsy, but the way in which the word was being used. 

A BBC spokesman said: 'There are no banned words on the BBC; "gypsy" isn't a banned word. This wasn't about the word itself, but about the sketch as a whole and the potential to cause offence. As with all comedy, it's about context, and in this particular case we felt there were less offensive ways of making the same joke.'

In other words, Miller way well have been caught trying to pass off a genuinely anti-Gypsy joke as funny and then claimed he was being ironic. If so, it may be the beginning of anti-Gypsy humour on the BBC now being seen as unacceptable racism. 

The BBC has previously come under fire from the Gypsy and Traveller community after racist  jokes by children’s character Basil Brush, as well as comics Catherine Tate and Jimmy Carr.

In the case of Basil Brush, a programme featured a friend of Basil's falling under a Gypsy spell which makes him attractive to women.

Dame Rosie Fortune, who lives above the pair, tries to sell Basil pegs and lucky heather but he turns her down. She then offers to tell Basil's fortune, but he says: “I went to a fortune teller once and he said I was going on a long journey."

After which Basil quipped "He stole my wallet and I had to walk all the way home."