The BBC has defended a 'Little Britain' sketch which was branded "racist" in Ofcom research.
BBC has defended Little Britain over the controversy
The broadcaster has responded after 115 viewers were shown the sketch as part of a report by polling company Ipsos, with people claiming it is "explicitly racist and outdated" and they were "surprised that it was available on BBC iPlayer".
The scene - which originally aired in 2004 - saw university counsellor Linda Flint David Walliams) described another character as having "yellowish skin, slight smell of soy sauce" before using a racist slur.
The report for Ofcom said: "The clip was considered less acceptable because the participants felt it was purposely offensive in stereotyping and targeting an ethnic minority group for comedy purposes.
"Some reasoned that it was important to still show this content to reflect the beliefs of society at the time.
"However, there were concerns that it could normalise racist behaviours which could be repeated by young children."
In response, the BBC said the intent of the sketch is to "expose and ridicule" racist attitudes.
A spokesperson told RadioTimes.com: "All jokes in our output are judged on context and intent.
"The sketches in which the character Linda Flint makes reference to the appearance or race of a series of people are intended to expose and ridicule some of the outdated prejudices and racism that still exist in parts of British society, which is more apparent when viewing the sketches within the context of a full episode, and across the series as a whole.
"The programme is part of the BBC's comedy archive and information is provided for iPlayer viewers about the inclusion of discriminatory language."
A content warning about the language appears before the episode when streamed on BBC iPlayer.
Back in 2020, criticism over Walliams and Matt Lucas' use of blackface resulted in 'Little Britain' as a whole being removed from iPlayer, with the comedy duo later issuing a public apology for playing "characters of other races".
A modified version of the sketch show was reintroduced to the streaming platform last year with some episodes re-edited to remove certain characters.
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