Watchdog probes Fern Brady's 'sacrilegious' poster
Complaint that her tour image is offensive to Christians
Fern Brady is getting some extra publicity for her new stand-up tour, after generating complaints that its poster is sacrilegious and offensive to Christians.
The comic is promoting her new show I Gave You Milk To Drink with an image that shows her in Biblical-style clothing, holding a baby doll and squirting breast milk into the mouth of a man dressed as a priest.
Now the Advertising Standards Authority is investigating, having received a formal objection.
A spokesperson said: 'I can confirm that we’ve received a complaint about a paid-for online ad for comedian Fern Brady
‘The complainant has challenged whether the ad is offensive because they believe it mocks the Christian faith.
‘We have launched a formal investigation but no decision has been reached on whether the ad breaks the UK advertising rules. We will publish our findings in due course.’
The comic drew attention to the complaint in an Instgram post, captioned, in part: 'Whoever complained about the poster, thanks a lot!’
In the video, she said: 'For this show, tickets were selling well and it was all looking good. Then some virgin complained to the ASA about my beautiful tour poster. There’s not even anything wrong with it, why are you complaining?
‘If you’re the person who complained about my poster, I hope you never come [to the show].’
In the post, Brady refers to the poster being 'banned', but the ASA confirmed to Chortle the advert can still run while it investigates, and will only need to be removed if it breaks the regulator's rules.
The video specifically promoters her show at the Hammersmith Apollo on November 1, scene of a previous controversy in 2018. Her set for the BBC’s Live At The Apollo recorded at the London venue, contained a joke about Arlene Foster, the former first minister of Northern Ireland, resembling a ‘butch lesbian masquerading as a straight woman in charge of the Democratic Unionist Party, the most homophobic political party in the UK"’
The DUP demanded that Brady apologise for the ‘slur’, but she didn’t.
Published: 21 Oct 2024
