BBC under fire for cutting ‘homophobic’ joke out of Top of the Pops repeat
The BBC is under fire – after it cut a joke out of an old episode of Top of the Pops over concerns it was homophobic.
BBC Four is currently showing vintage repeats of the popular music show, which features performances from big-name musicians from 1964 until 2006.
The re-airing of an episode from 1980 caused controversy last night – when the BBC opted to edit out a homophobic joke.
The Who frontman Roger Daltrey made the infamous comment 35 years ago, jokingly warning people to “watch your backs” when the Village People were set to perform.
The BBC was accused of “airbrushing” history by editing the anticipated line out of this week’s repeat.
Re-aired versions of the show already feature heavy editing, due to the presence of sex offender Jimmy Saville.
A BBC spokesperson told PinkNews: “Repeat showings of Top of the Pops are regularly edited for technical, running time or other editorial reasons.”
Last year, the BBC came under fire for cutting a same-sex kiss out of broadcasts of Doctor Who that aired in Asia.
A censored version of the sci-fi show, excluding the kiss, was shown on the BBC Worldwide channel in Hong Kong, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore.
A BBC spokesperson told PinkNews at the time: “In order to comply with broadcast regulations in Asia where our BBC Entertainment channel airs, BBC Worldwide made a brief edit to the first episode of Doctor Who Series 8, but did so without detracting from the storyline.”
