It was OK for him to joke about the PM to be dragged screaming into hell

Channel 4 will not get into trouble over Frankie Boyle's joke that he wished Boris Johnson would be dragged screaming into hell.

His comments on The Last Leg last month attracted 11 complaints to broadcasting watchdog Ofcom.

But after an initial assessment, the regulator said the routine did not warrant further investigation for breaking'generally accepted standards'.

On the July 22 episodes of the show, Boyle reacted to Johnson ending his final Prime Minister’s Questions with: 'Hasta la vista, baby.'

He said: 'You finished with a quote from The Terminator — The Terminator! — after you killed 150,000 fucking people during the pandemic.

'I don’t want to sound like I’ve got a grudge or anything, but I hope a vent opens up in the ground and clawed hands drag you screaming into hell.'

After a commercial break host Adam Hills – apparently sensing potential controversy – told viewers 'we do not wish Boris Johnson any ill'.

In the show Boyle also raged: 'We’re the first society in history to be ruled by incompetent fascists. I just think that fascists are normally organised. We’re going to be going to death camps on replacement bus services.'

He added: 'We’re going to have the next Prime Minister chosen by a very small group of elderly people during a heatwave and it’s going to be either Rishi Sunak, a guy whose greatest desire in life is to be pegged by Thatcher’s ghost, or Liz Truss, who would be the first Prime Minister to forget to breathe and just die.'

And he said 'Theresa May was a monster as well... she was only bearable because she had no power. For most of her time as prime minister, she had all the authority of the "Do Not Tumble Dry" label.'

Published: 10 Aug 2022