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Scott Mills cleared of breaching broadcasting rules over Essex girl jokes
By Andy Malt | Published on Tuesday 6 June 2017
Scott Mills has been cleared of breaching OfCom rules, after a member of the cast of ‘The Only Way Is Essex’ told several ‘Essex girl’ jokes during a 24 hour Radio 1 show he hosted for Comic Relief.
Bobby Norris appeared on the show in March, telling listeners he was there to tell them “a couple of sets of Essex girl jokes”. Which he duly did. Noting the potential for offence, Mills said: “I’d like to point out, before anyone complains, this is a person from Essex, living in Essex, on a show about Essex”.
Norris is not a woman from Essex though, it’s probably worth pointing out. Still, Mills added: “I’m enjoying this so much”.
Following two complaints to media regulator OfCom, a BBC spokesperson said in a statement: “No offence was intended by the jokes”.
Following an investigation, launched in April, an OfCom spokesperson said yesterday: “We investigated a series of jokes made in this programme broadcast as part of Comic Relief. While we acknowledge that some of the jokes had the potential to offend, we found they were unlikely to have exceeded most listeners’ expectations”.
The broadcast was found not to be in breach of ‘generally accepted standards’.