{"id":459361,"date":"2026-03-05T19:03:09","date_gmt":"2026-03-05T19:03:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/459361\/"},"modified":"2026-03-05T19:03:09","modified_gmt":"2026-03-05T19:03:09","slug":"rosie-jones-comes-under-fire-for-unclassy-david-attenborough-death-gag-just-not-funny","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/459361\/","title":{"rendered":"Rosie Jones comes under fire for ‘unclassy’ David Attenborough death gag: ‘Just not funny!’"},"content":{"rendered":"

Rosie Jones has sparked outrage after posting a joke on social media suggesting she is “waiting” for Sir David Attenborough to die, so that she can step into his shoes as the next “national treasure.”<\/p>\n

The post, shared on Ms Jones\u2019s official Instagram page, showed the comedian positioning herself as a potential successor to the beloved 98-year-old broadcaster.<\/p>\n

The comedian’s accompanying caption read: “Listen. I’m not wishing anything BAD on Dave. I’m just saying… I’m here… waiting…”<\/p>\n

The remark quickly drew criticism online, with some critics labelling the comedian \u201cunclassy\u201d and \u201cdiabolical\u201d for appearing to make light of the national treasure\u2019s eventual passing.<\/p>\n

\"Rosie<\/p>\n

Rosie Jones sparked outrage online<\/p>\n

| PA<\/p>\n

“Do people actually find her funny?” one disgruntled viewer commented, while another said: “Just me or does this feel distasteful to anyone else?”<\/p>\n

Another person penned: “Ew,” followed by a throwing up emoji.<\/p>\n

A fourth wrote: “As an Attenborough fan, this is wildly offensive.”<\/p>\n

“Just not funny!!” stated another.<\/p>\n

\"David<\/p>\n

David Attenborough is approaching his 100th birthday<\/p>\n

| PA<\/p>\n

Despite the criticism, some fans responded positively to the joke.<\/p>\n

Many flooded the comments with cry-laughing emojis, appreciating the comedian’s humour.<\/p>\n

One follower joked: “This is going to look so suspicious if he dies soon. I’ve got my eye on you Rosie.”<\/p>\n

Another said: “We love you, Rosie!”<\/p>\n

“You’re already in!” another fan quipped.<\/p>\n

The controversy has drawn attention to Ms Jones’s previous comments about fellow comedians and their material.<\/p>\n

Just months ago, the comedian publicly criticised Jimmy Carr and Ricky Gervais<\/a> over their jokes about transgender people.<\/p>\n

Ms Jones described them as “privileged cis white straight men” who “open their newspaper and go, ‘Oh, people are talking about trans people. I can know a bit about that without experiencing it at all.'”<\/p>\n

\"David<\/p>\n

David Attenborough is known as the UK’s ‘National Treasure’<\/p>\n

| Getty<\/p>\n

She delivered a blunt message to her fellow comics at the time: “To those boys, I’d say with respect, shut the f*** up.”<\/p>\n

Some observers have noted the apparent contradiction between her criticism of others’ controversial humour and her own Mr Attenborough joke.<\/p>\n

“That’s a horrible thing to say. You don’t like it when people are nasty to you,” someone pointed out underneath her post.<\/p>\n

\"Rosie<\/p>\n

Rosie Jones<\/p>\n

| PA<\/p>\n

The badly received joke comes just weeks after the BBC unveiled plans for a week-long tribute <\/a>to Sir David, as the legendary broadcaster approaches his centenary on Friday, May 8.<\/p>\n

The broadcaster described the occasion as marking an “extraordinary milestone” for the nature documentary icon, who has been associated with the corporation for more than seven decades.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Rosie Jones has sparked outrage after posting a joke on social media suggesting she is “waiting” for Sir…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":459362,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[6491,830,96,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-459361","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-celebrities","tag-celebrities","tag-celebrity","tag-entertainment","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/459361","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=459361"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/459361\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/459362"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=459361"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=459361"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=459361"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}