BBC admits cutting controversial Prince Andrew joke from Drag Race Down Under
Anita Wigl’it brought down the house and home the win with her sickening performance as Queen Elizabeth the II – despite having many of her jokes cut out in the edit. (BBC iPlayer)
The BBC has finally addressed its decision to cut a controversial joke about Prince Andrew from its iPlayer broadcast of Drag Race Down Under.
British Drag Race fans were overjoyed when the BBC announced that it would be showing the Australian version of the contest on the iPlayer.
But that excitement turned to disappointment for some Drag Race viewers when it emerged that the broadcaster edited out a number of jokes made by drag queen Anita Wigl’it, who took on the role of Queen Elizabeth II in Snatch Game.
In the original broadcast, Wigl’it’s Queen Elizabeth said: “I wish a dingo would have taken my baby, then I wouldn’t have anything to do with Prince Andrew any more.”
That joke did not appear in the BBC’s broadcast, while a second joke about the late Prince Philip was also censored in the version available on the iPlayer.
A spokesperson for the BBC confirmed that the episode was amended – but they declined to offer a reason for the decision.
“The BBC occasionally makes edits to acquired programmes in accordance with UK audience expectations,” a spokesperson told The Guardian.
BBC left other Drag Race jokes about Meghan Markle and Princess Diana untouched
Notably, the BBC left other jokes in, including one in which Wigl’it’s Queen Elizabeth said her advice to Meghan Markle was “don’t p**s me off – and wear a seatbelt,” referring to Princess Diana’s death in a car accident in 1997.
A second joke about Prince Andrew, made by Wigl’it as she prepared to take on Queen Elizabeth in Snatch Game, was also left untouched. Viewers in the UK were allowed to watch Wigl’it deliver the line: “In my household, we have a long tradition of celebrating anniversaries. When somebody turns 100, I write them a letter. And when somebody turns 16, Prince Andrew writes them a text.”
Meanwhile, producers in the UK and Australia opted to remove a joke made by Wigl’it in which she spoke about her “D-A-P: dry ass pussy”.
While jokes at the expense of the royal family were largely a hit, many fans were not impressed by drag queen Etcetera Etcetera’s decision to portray Lindy Chamberlain-Creighton, who was wrongfully convicted of the murder of her nine-week old baby in 1982.
Chamberlain-Creighton later had her conviction overturned, and a 2012 inquest found that her daughter died “as a result of being attacked and taken by a dingo.”
