Brit Awards aired an awkward moment as Jack Whitehall made a joke about Peter Mandelson to Labour’s Andy Burnham and Lisa Nandy at their table. Jack Whitehall said: “Are there any more politicians here?” He then added: “Mandelson was on the list, oh no that’s another list.” The moment was bleeped out on the live broadcast.
Jack referenced the incident, which has seen the BBC widely criticised, as the Brits, which were broadcasting on ITV, headed into an ad break. Explaining that it was a raucous show, he advised: “There may be some swearing, but don’t worry, we have got the best in the business on the bleep button tonight. It’s the guy who did the BAFTAs,” he smirked. However, although it was topical, the gag fell flat with many viewers.
“Making a joke about what happened last week at the BAFTA’s is a little tasteless, no?” one viewer fumed on X.
“Jack Whitehall roasting the BAFTAs censor guy while hosting the BRITs? Bold for someone whose career peaked at being the posh comic everyone pretends to find funny. Stay in your lane, mate,” another raged.
A third chimed in: “The BAFTA’s joke? Not very funny. I bet if the slur was about Jews there wouldn’t be any jokes about it smh.”
A fourth was so outraged they typed in all captials: “THE BAFTAS JOKE??? JACK BRUH.”
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However a fifth felt the comedian drew attention to the failures on the part of the production commenting: “Jack Whitehall taking shots on BBC and BAFTA for not beeping John Davidson. Fair play Jack Whitehall.”
Following the controversial moment at the BAFTAs Lindo confirmed neither he nor Jordan had the situation explained to them, telling Vanity Fair that they “did what we had to do while presenting” — but stating he wished “someone from BAFTA spoke to us afterwards.”
The incident has led to an international scandal which has seen both BBC and BAFTA forced to apologise.
A senior BBC executive later apologised to staff, saying the corporation understands “how distressing” it was that the slur was not edited out of the broadcast.