BBC watchdogs rule against his gag

Graham Norton has been rapped for propagating potentially offensive stereotypes about lesbians.

The BBC’s Editorial Complaints Unit has upheld a complaint about his BBC Two chat show that went out in March, in which he was joking about a patent application.

The documents, for a new type of jumpsuit, were illustrated with the hand-drawn figure of a large woman with short hair, which Norton joked looked like a lesbian.

His guest Ruth Jones, from Gavin & Stacey, tried to raise the point that you couldn’t tell someone’s sexuality from their appearance, telling Norton: ‘What does a lesbian look like?

To which he replied: ‘That.’

Just one viewer complained that the exchange could have been seen as offensive, but the internal BBC watchdogs agreed with her – and issued a warning to the show’s production team.

They ruled: ‘Although the initial references might have been inoffensive if considered on their own, they prompted an exchange with one of the programme's guests which gave the references the appearance of perpetuating or reinforcing a potentially offensive stereotype.

‘The programme team were reminded of the need to avoid any possibility of being seen to endorse offensive sexual stereotypes.’

Here is the exchange:

Published: 25 Sep 2009