Francine Lewis has claimed 'Britain's Got Talent' bosses scrapped some of her "offensive" jokes.
Francine Lewis
The 45-year-old finalist returned to the ITV talent show last year to perform her celebrity impersonations for its Christmas special, but she was forced to cut out some of her act as producers were worried she would offend people.
Appearing on GB News, she said: “I sent my scripts. I gave them to the producers. They saw them, they really liked it. Then it was the night before recording the show and they actually said, ‘We need to scrap all those jokes because they’re not politically correct. We’re worried people are going to be offended.'
"I wasn’t allowed to make any weight references to Gemma Collins. I wasn’t allowed to say the word ‘drug’ which was in part of Sharon Osbourne. Then they said I had to be careful about Cheryl Cole, using references about her not being able to speak proper English. It was just ridiculous."
Francine first appeared on the series in 2013 and made her way to the final with 23.1 per cent of the public vote, thanks to her impressions of the likes of Stacey Solomon, Katie Price and Holly Willoughby.
She has since enjoyed stints on 'Loose Women' and Channel 4's 'Very Important People' before returning for 'Britain's Got Talent Christmas Spectacular'.
It comes after 'BGT' judge David Walliams admitted his impression of the Queen's speech could have upset some viewers.
He said: "It’s an alternative Queen's speech. It’s just jokes about the other judges, more than jokes about the queen.
"In any case, the Queen is going to watch it and not be very happy! That’s just one part of the show, it’s a two-hour show extravaganza, it’s going to be great."