THE BROADCASTING AUTHORITY of Ireland (BAI) has rejected a complaint made against Late Late Show host Ryan Tubridy for saying “bejaysus”.
The BAI released their decisions yesterday, unanimously rejecting a complaint made by Robert Thompson over the edition of the show broadcast on 30 October 2015.
The complaint centred around Tubridy saying the word “bejaysus”.
The complainant said that the use of the word is “derogatory and should not be used by the national broadcaster”.
The complaint said:
“The misuse of Jesus’ name (or Christ) is offensive to Christian people. There are many people who come under the general umbrella of ‘Christian’ who are regular misusers of the name of Jesus and unlikely to be offended.
But Christians divide into two very broad categories – Christian by birth/in name and those by conviction ie those who have a personal allegiance to Jesus Christ. And it is that latter group who find this offensive, especially on a national and influential forum.
It goes on to say that while freedom of speech is “well acknowledged in Irish society…it is tempered with sensitivity”.
“People, organisations and politicians all endeavour to uphold this standard and we never hear ‘O Buddha’ or ‘be-Mohammed’ (or others, and possibly with demeaning tone). He states that such would quickly make news and evoke apologies and he asks whether the same courtesy should not be extended to Christians.”
In their response, RTÉ said that the remark was made in the context of judging a Halloween costume competition. When presented with a man in an Edward Scissorhands outfit, Tubridy said:
He’s scaring the bejaysus out of me now I have to say, with that look.
RTÉ said that “this was meant as a light-hearted compliment to the man’s costume and certainly not meant to cause offence”.
It adds the dictionary definition of the word “a mild oath, used as a noun for emphasis” and says it does not agree with the complainant’s assertion that it had dishonoured the Irish Constitution.
Decision
The watchdog decided that while misuse of religious views was part of its Code of Standards, content can be aired which may cause offence but which is justified for creative, editorial or other reasons.
The Forum noted that, in the programme, it was used only once by the presenter as a means of acknowledging what he considered to be the scariness of one of the Halloween costume featured on the programme.
“Therefore, the Forum found that the use of the word had a context and was not out of place or gratuitous.”
It unanimously rejected the complaint.
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