Katherine Ryan has apologised to Victoria Beckham after the BBC upheld a complaint about a joke in which the comedian appeared to link the former Spice Girl to an obscene term on Have I Got News For You.
The remark was made during an episode of the satirical programme broadcast in November 2025, while a panel discussion was focusing on an alleged email in which David Beckham reportedly used the same word when expressing anger at missing out on a knighthood.
Two viewers complained that Ryan’s comment was “gratuitously offensive”. The BBC’s Executive Complaints Unit ruled that another panellist’s use of the term had been editorially justified because it referred to David Beckham’s alleged wording, but found no such justification for Ryan’s subsequent joke about his wife.
The ECU said the comment “presented Victoria Beckham as equivalent to a particularly offensive word”.
Ryan, 43, responded in a video posted on social media, saying she had been dealing with matrescence and had been working while caring for a ten-day-old baby. She acknowledged: “Though there is no defence, I was suffering from a condition called matrescence.”
She added: “Sometimes I forget that celebrities are not my friends. If I had called Jimmy Carr a c, he wouldn’t have minded.” Ryan said the moment had clearly been intended as a joke and that she had later told Victoria: “I love her.”
The comedian also shared a message she had sent to Victoria, saying she wanted to make clear that it had been “a stupid joke” and that she had not intended any harm.
Katherine Ryan’s previous celebrity clashes
The controversy is the latest in a series of outspoken interventions by the Canadian-born comedian, who has regularly used her podcast and stand-up shows to criticise public figures.
In January, Ryan defended David and Victoria Beckham after their eldest son, Brooklyn, issued a statement attacking his parents. He claimed he had felt uncomfortable and humiliated when his mother allegedly “hijacked” his first dance at his 2022 wedding to Nicola Peltz.
Brooklyn also said he had not spoken to his parents or siblings for 13 months and alleged that Victoria had called him “evil” during a dispute over seating arrangements. Ryan said she was “on David and Victoria’s side” and told her podcast audience that Brooklyn needed to “grow up a little bit”.
She also described him as an “ungrateful nepo baby”, arguing that his modelling, photography and other ventures had been helped by the Beckham name. Ryan said he had benefited from his family’s status and that she had not seen enough gratitude in his public statements.
Ryan previously praised Meghan Markle for challenging expectations placed on her as a member of the Royal Family. But, after the release of Meghan’s Netflix series With Love, Meghan, she questioned whether the Duchess of Sussex’s public image was “very manicured and very forced”.
Ryan said she had once been “rooting for Meghan Markle”, but claimed that some of Meghan’s comments about her childhood appeared not to add up. She also criticised the programme’s presentation, including its use of flowers on food, and said Meghan appeared too focused on maintaining a carefully constructed image.
On her podcast, Ryan said: “I don’t think she’s a bad person, but I think she likes cosying up to celebrities and she wants the hundred million dollar deal and she likes the fact that she’s married to a prince.”
Comments on Thomas Skinner and Danny Jones
Ryan also criticised Thomas Skinner after The Apprentice star discussed his infidelity in an interview and said his wife had “forgotten” about it.
Skinner had cheated on his wife, Sinéad, weeks after their wedding in May 2022, later describing his relationship with aesthetician Amy-Lucy O’Rourke as a “moment of madness”. Ryan argued that his wife would not have simply forgotten the betrayal and said she had been vulnerable as a newly married woman raising their children.
She called Skinner hypocritical for promoting conservative values and the importance of the family unit while acknowledging that he had been unfaithful. However, Ryan said she did not believe he should be professionally cancelled and wished both women involved in the affair healing.
She also commented after McFly singer Danny Jones was filmed kissing Maura Higgins at a BRIT Awards after-party. Jones remains married to Georgia Jones, and Ryan joked that men could leave the house to buy milk and “forget they have a whole family”.
During her stand-up show Battleaxe, Ryan said she believed men could leave home with good intentions before “something goes wrong” by lunchtime. She added that Higgins was not married to anyone.
Bonnie Blue and Russell Brand
Ryan became involved in a public exchange with OnlyFans creator Bonnie Blue after Blue claimed to have had sex with 1,057 men in one night. Ryan said she was more struck by the men queuing for the event than by Blue herself, describing them as “a sad line-up of absolute f***ing losers”.
Blue rejected the description, saying the men were excited to attend and “definitely weren’t losers”. She argued that Ryan knew nothing about them and accused women of unfairly judging men who wanted to take part.
Ryan has also been linked to earlier claims about Russell Brand. She reportedly accused him of being a “sexual predator” while appearing with him on Roast Battle in 2018, years before allegations of rape and sexual assault were published in 2023.
Brand has vehemently denied those allegations. Ryan later told Louis Theroux that she had confronted an unnamed comedian to his face, but said she could not identify him publicly because doing so would be a “litigious minefield” and that it was not her story to tell.
Criticism of I’m A Celebrity
The comedian has further criticised ITV’s decision to feature politicians including Nigel Farage and Matt Hancock on I’m A Celebrity. She said she was against “glorifying dangerous people” and reducing them to light entertainment.
Ryan said she took politics seriously and had no desire to appear on the programme because of its treatment of figures she believed had directly hurt families.
She has also spoken about the demands placed on female comedians with children, contrasting her approach to touring with that of male performers. Ryan said she toured “like a mum, not like a dad”, returning home whenever possible rather than spending months away from her family.
