Comedy Central rapped over bad language

Comedy Central has again been rapped by Ofcom - this time for offensive subtitles in an episode of its hidden camera show Impractical Jokers which aired in the daytime.

In an installment of the US import that went out at 4pm, subtitles read: 'He's gonna beat the f***ing s**t out of me' and 'God, I'm f***ing shaking'.

Even though the bulk of the words were asterixed out, and the dialogue was bleeped, the watchdog said the broadcaster broke the rules about exposing children to bad language.

'In our view, the repeated display of partially obscured examples of the most offensive language, particularly because they were broadcast at the same time as bleeping on the programme's audio track, made clear the specific offensive language being used, and were unsuitable for children,' the regulator said.

Its ruling, published today, concluded that the show – which features comedians Brian Quinn, James Murray, Sal Vulcano and Joe Gatt pranking the public –  'had been appropriately scheduled'.

Comedy Central accepted that it had made a 'regrettable oversight' in airing the subtitles in August.

The broadcaster also withdrew all 72 episodes of Impractical Jokers from UK daytime schedules pending a review of their subtitling – as well as vowing to retrain staff.

In the last three months, Comedy Central has repeatedly been rapped for airing adult trailers featuring the likes of Russell Howard, South Park and Amy Schumer at inappropriate times – but promised to 'enter 2016 with a strengthened compliance system'.

Published: 11 Jan 2016