Katherine Ryan takes aim at David Beckham after apologising for ‘offensive’ Victoria joke

Katherine Ryan isn’t done talking about her Have I Got News for You scandal involving the Beckhams (Picture: BBC/Getty) A mere two weeks after apologising ‘unreservedly’ for a joke that branded Victoria Beckham the C-word, Katherine Ryan has turned her attention back to the fashion designer’s husband. The comedian reportedly made football legend David Beckham, 51, the subject of her stand-up material last night, referencing the BBC scandal that sparked a flurry of complaints. While onstage for a gig in Chelsea, London, the Canadian star, 43, quipped that she’d been ‘cancelled’ by the broadcaster after an ‘offensive’ gag saw her call the Spice Girl, 52, a ‘c**t’ while recalling David’s 2013 leaked emails, in which he allegedly raged over not receiving a knighthood. ‘I have been cancelled by the BBC for allegedly calling Victoria Beckham the C-word,’ Katherine is believed to have told the audience. She continued, in quotes obtained by The Sun: ‘Or as David Beckham knows it – the K-word, because bless him, the alphabet is hard.’ The remark prompted laughter from the crowd, with Katherine going on to profess her admiration for VB. The comedian performed at a gig in London last night, where she referenced the controversy again (Picture: Instagram/@alwaysbecomedy) ‘But I actually did not do that,’ she stated. ‘I actually love Victoria Beckham.’ Originally, during an episode of Have I Got News for You that aired on November 7 last year, host Katherine mentioned David’s rant to his publicist, in which he allegedly also used the C-word. Hacked into and leaked in 2017, the emails from four years prior included comments made to PR Simon Oliveira, labelling the honours committee ‘unappreciative’ and a ‘bunch of c***s’ after his knighthood snub. At the time, the Beckham camp responded, saying the emails were heavily doctored with swear words added and that the private messages were stolen. ‘I don’t know that we are allowed to broadcast the C-word, but you did reference Victoria Beckham earlier, and we’ll allow that,’ Katherine said on HIGNFY. After an audible response from the studio audience, Katherine added: ‘I like her really; I didn’t expect that reaction.’ To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video Fellow comedian Maisie Adam also used the swear word in reference to the incident. But while hers was deemed justifiable on editorial grounds, Katherine’s was not. Consequently, the BBC’s Executive Complaints Unit (ECU) ruled: ‘There was no such justification for a comment which presented Victoria Beckham as equivalent to a particularly offensive word.’ Following viewer backlash – with two people calling the explicit joke ‘gratuitously offensive’ – and an internal investigation, an edited version of the episode has been added to BBC iPlayer. Katherine herself issued a statement regarding the controversy last month, saying in an Instagram video: ‘Hi, I’m comedian Katherine Ryan, and today the BBC announced their decision to uphold a complaint made by two very influential viewers about a joke that I tried to make on an episode of Have I Got News for You 11 months ago.’ ‘At that time, though there is no defence, I was suffering from a condition called matrescence,’ she continued. Coined in the 1970s, ‘matrescence’ is a term used to essentially describe the process of becoming a mother and its ‘physical, psychological, and emotional transition’ for women. In 2017, emails were leaked, allegedly written by David and using the C-word in a rant about not receiving a knighthood, which he eventually got in 2025 (Picture: Andrew Matthews/Pool/AFP via Getty Images) Katherine took aim at David’s literacy skills as she joked: ‘Bless him, the alphabet is hard’ (Picture: Lev Radin/Shutterstock) ‘I was in that building with a 10-day-old baby,’ Katherine noted, having recently given birth to fourth child Holland. ‘Should I have left the house?’ ‘This is gonna be a tough one for the feminists because I was a woman going to work, but I did call another woman a c**t,’ she quipped. She admitted that she sometimes ‘forgets that celebrities are not [her] friends’, insisting the likes of Jimmy Carr ‘wouldn’t have minded’ being called the C-word. ‘Joanne McNally, c**t, she wouldn’t have minded, but this was described by’the BBC as a slur.’ ‘As though c***s are part of a protected group,’ Katherine added sarcastically. ‘The trouble is now that section’s been taken off iPlayer, so the incident only exists in printed media [and] online media, and then you lost the context because on the day, if you watched it, it was clearly a joke, and the whole audience went “Huhhhh”, and I said, “Whoaaaa”.’ Katherine is famously outspoken, which often lands her in hot water online (Picture: Jack Taylor/Getty Images for SXSW London) ‘I like her really,’ she said of fashion designer Victoria (Picture: Neil Hall/EPA/Shutterstock) Declaring her love for Posh Spice, Katherine concluded by saying she was ‘very sorry’ and posted a screenshot of a private DM she sent to her. In it, she wrote that the joke was ‘meant to be an obvious throwaway’ and was nothing more than a ‘stupid joke’. ‘I didn’t mean any harm towards you at all,’ she penned. Neither Victoria nor David publicly acknowledged the matter, but after Katherine’s apology was posted, Victoria shared a snap of a giant bouquet gifted by her husband. ‘I love you @davidbeckham’, she wrote alongside it on her Instagram Story, with many believing it to be a way of cheering her up after the gag resurfaced and made headlines once more. Katherine is, of course, no stranger to a dicey joke, and speaking her mind has landed her in hot water – often on social media – over the years. Speaking exclusively to Metro late last year, she shared: ‘I get many backlash most of the time, and that doesn’t bother me at all. ‘I understand the viral cycle now, where I’ll say something a bit provocative, it’s slightly controversial, it blows up for a couple of days, it gets lots of comments, and then people back off, and I say another provocative thing, and the same cycle happens.’ She said that she ‘speaks authentically’, declaring: ‘I know who I am.’ Declaring herself ‘pure of heart’ and never one to willingly cause upset, she claimed any negative feedback goes in one ear and shoots right out the other. ‘When people find it offensive, it kind of rolls off my back.’ Deals of the Day Most of us aren't getting enough fibre – this easy supplement could change that My honest review of the new UKLash Lash Lift Gel Kurt Geiger's new Notting Hill collection is a love letter to London's chaotic weather Dyson fans are swapping to this Hoover vacuum-mop that washes floors as it cleans I tried L'Oréal Paris's new PDRN serum and my skin looked glossier after one use Reps for David and Victoria Beckham have been contacted for comment. Arrow MORE: David Beckham quietly signals hope for reconciliation as Brooklyn snubs family event Arrow MORE: How Brooklyn Beckham plans to avoid awkward run-in with family in Paris Arrow MORE: Louis Theroux admits to ‘surprising’ nightly drug habit that went on for years Switched On Get plugged into the week’s must-watch shows, unmissable moments, and expert reviews with Metro TV Editor Sabrina Barr.