Herring blames Ch4 for Boyle controversy

Richard Herring has said that Channel 4 must take responsibility for the controversy surrounding Frankie Boyle's jokes about Katie Price's disabled son.

The Christ On A Bike stand-up told DS that it is the broadcaster that has to make the final decisions on what is inappropriate to air.

Herring said: "I blame Channel 4 for allowing it to go out. There's a lot of stuff on TV at the moment where it seems absolutely fine to mock disabled people for no reason. I find it pointless and just embarrassing. I think people think they're being edgy but they're just being pr*cks.

"I think for a grown man to start taking the p*ss out of an actual 8-year-old boy, even if he wasn't disabled, on national TV - that's slightly weird. Unless you've got something amazing to say about that subject, I think you've crossed a line there."

He added: "I can completely understand what he's doing, I've seen it. He's saying the most outrageous thing he can. He doesn't mean it. We all do it with our friends. I think there's a difference when it goes on TV. I'm a massive advocate of free speech, and I also think you have a responsibility as a comedian and a broadcaster to think about those things.

"I do work with Scope and I think if I was going to joke about disability I'd want to be on the side of the disabled. I'd want to be making some point about the unfairness of society, rather than just getting a cheap laugh out of one child.

"I'm all for freedom of expression, so I absolutely just blame Channel 4 for putting it out."

Boyle has since been criticised for his allegedly racially insensitive material on a more recent episode of Tramadol Nights.

> Click here to read our full interview with Richard Herring