London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Tuesday, Oct 07, 2025

BBC cuts Prince Andrew joke from RuPaul’s Drag Race

BBC cuts Prince Andrew joke from RuPaul’s Drag Race

Joke in Australian version at expense of Queen’s scandal-hit son deemed not suitable for British audiences
The BBC is embroiled in a bizarre row about censorship, the royal family and drag queens after editing an episode of RuPaul’s Drag Race to remove a joke about Prince Andrew.

The national broadcaster is currently showing episodes of the new series RuPaul’s Drag Race Down Under on its iPlayer streaming service but edited out a comment made by a drag artist dressed as Queen Elizabeth II, apparently in the belief it could offend UK audiences.

Viewers of the original Australian broadcast saw performer Anita Wigl’it, dressed in full drag as the British monarch, ad-lib the comment: “I wish a dingo would have taken my baby, then I wouldn’t have anything to do with Prince Andrew any more.”

The BBC decided British viewers should not have to listen to the remark, made in a segment of the show where performers compete to make crude comments, and deleted it before the episode was broadcast in the UK.

A spokesperson for the BBC confirmed the change but did not elaborate on exactly why the comment was deemed inappropriate for British ears: “The BBC occasionally makes edits to acquired programmes in accordance with UK audience expectations.”

Prince Andrew has had a reduced public profile since his disastrous BBC Newsnight interview last year about his relationship with the deceased paedophile Jeffrey Epstein, stepping back from all of his royal duties. The prince has repeatedly declined to travel to the US to discuss the case with American authorities but insists he has done nothing wrong, despite US prosecutors declaring him “uncooperative”.

The BBC has struggled to judge the tone of its coverage of the royal family in recent months, with its decision to dedicate all its broadcast channels to the death of Prince Philip attracting a recordbreaking number of complaints. At the same time, the broadcaster also received a smaller – but still substantial – number of complaints from viewers who felt the coverage was not sufficiently reverential towards the royal family.

A second in-character joke by Anita Wigl’it about Prince Philip, filmed before the Duke of Edinburgh’s death, was also shown in the original broadcast but deemed inappropriate for British audiences by the BBC.

The edits to Drag Race came at a time when the BBC’s director general, Tim Davie, is battling with a government trying to stamp its authority on the national broadcaster, with Conservative MPs accusing the BBC of being unpatriotic and failing to promote the union flag in its publications. Davie was also accused of curbing leftwing comedy programmes that have been unpopular with leading Tories.

Drag Race Down Under was filmed in Auckland earlier this year and features contestants from Australia and New Zealand. It is the latest international spin-off of the booming Drag Race franchise, joining the BBC-produced British version, which has been a hit for the national broadcaster.

Strangely, other Drag Race Down Under jokes about the royal family did make the BBC broadcast, including one in which the drag character of Elizabeth II said her advice to Meghan, Duchess of Sussex was “don’t piss me off – and wear a seatbelt”. British viewers were also allowed to watch a drag queen about to don Queen drag declare: “When somebody turns 100 I write them a letter – and when somebody turns 16 Prince Andrew writes them a text.”
Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
A Dollar Coin Featuring Trump’s Portrait Expected to Be Issued Next Year
Australia Orders X to Block Murder Videos, Citing Online Safety and Public Exposure
Three Scientists Awarded Nobel Prize in Medicine for Discovery of Immune Self-Tolerance Mechanism
OpenAI and AMD Forge Landmark AI-Chip Alliance with Equity Option
Munich Airport Reopens After Second Drone Shutdown
France Names New Government Amid Political Crisis
Trump Stands Firm in Shutdown Showdown and Declares War on Drug Cartels — Turning Crisis into Opportunity
Surge of U.S. Billionaires Transforms London’s Peninsula Apartments into Ultra-Luxury Stronghold
Pro Europe and Anti-War Babiš Poised to Return to Power After Czech Parliamentary Vote
Jeff Bezos Calls AI Surge a ‘Good’ Bubble, Urges Focus on Lasting Innovation
Japan’s Ruling Party Chooses Sanae Takaichi, Clearing Path to First Female Prime Minister
Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs Sentenced to Fifty Months in Prison Following Prostitution Conviction
Taylor Swift’s ‘Showgirl’ Launch Extends Billion-Dollar Empire
Trump Administration Launches “TrumpRx” Plan to Enable Direct Drug Sales at Deep Discounts
Trump Announces Intention to Impose 100 Percent Tariff on Foreign-Made Films
Altman Says GPT-5 Already Outpaces Him, Warns AI Could Automate 40% of Work
Singapore and Hong Kong Vie to Dominate Asia’s Rising Gold Trade
Trump Organization Teams with Saudi Developer on $1 Billion Trump Plaza in Jeddah
Manhattan Sees Surge in Office-to-Housing Conversions, Highest Since 2008
Switzerland and U.S. Issue Joint Assurance Against Currency Manipulation
Electronic Arts to Be Taken Private in Historic $55 Billion Buyout
Thomas Jacob Sanford Named as Suspect in Deadly Michigan Church Shooting and Arson
Russian Research Vessel 'Yantar' Tracked Mapping Europe’s Subsea Cables, Raising Security Alarms
New York Man Arrested After On-Air Confession to 2017 Parents’ Murders
U.S. Defense Chief Orders Sudden Summit of Hundreds of Generals and Admirals
Global Cruise Industry Posts Dramatic Comeback with 34.6 Million Passengers in 2024
Trump Claims FBI Planted 274 Agents at Capitol Riot, Citing Unverified Reports
India: Internet Suspended in Bareilly Amid Communal Clashes Between Muslims and Hindus
Supreme Court Extends Freeze on Nearly $5 Billion in U.S. Foreign Aid at Trump’s Request
Archaeologists Recover Statues and Temples from 2,000-Year-Old Sunken City off Alexandria
China Deploys 2,000 Workers to Spain to Build Major EV Battery Factory, Raising European Dependence
Speed Takes Over: How Drive-Through Coffee Chains Are Rewriting U.S. Coffee Culture
U.S. Demands Brussels Scrutinize Digital Rules to Prevent Bias Against American Tech
Ringo Starr Champions Enduring Beatles Legacy While Debuting Las Vegas Art Show
Private Equity’s Fundraising Surge Triggers Concern of European Market Shake-Out
Colombian President Petro Vows to Mobilize Volunteers for Gaza and Joins List of Fighters
FBI Removes Agents Who Kneeled at 2020 Protest, Citing Breach of Professional Conduct
Trump Alleges ‘Triple Sabotage’ at United Nations After Escalator and Teleprompter Failures
Shock in France: 5 Years in Prison for Former President Nicolas Sarkozy
Tokyo’s Jimbōchō Named World’s Coolest Neighbourhood for 2025
European Officials Fear Trump May Shift Blame for Ukraine War onto EU
BNP Paribas Abandons Ban on 'Controversial Weapons' Financing Amid Europe’s Defence Push
Typhoon Ragasa Leaves Trail of Destruction Across East Asia Before Making Landfall in China
The Personality Rights Challenge in India’s AI Era
Big Banks Rebuild in Hong Kong as Deal Volume Surges
Italy Considers Freezing Retirement Age at 67 to Avert Scheduled Hike
Italian City to Impose Tax on Visiting Dogs Starting in 2026
Arnault Denounces Proposed Wealth Tax as Threat to French Economy
Study Finds No Safe Level of Alcohol for Dementia Risk
Denmark Investigates Drone Incursion, Does Not Rule Out Russian Involvement
×