Katherine Ryan says she adores Victoria Beckham and feels accountable for hurting her feelings with a joke on Have I Got News for You, one that even her husband, Bobby Kootstra, disapproved of.
“I was being irreverent. I adore her, and I don’t care what people think, but equally I do have accountability for hurting people’s feelings,” Ryan told The Times.
“Even if they’re a massive celebrity, I do feel bad about that. I try to make it right.” She recalled Bobby shaking his head and telling her: “You get yourself into trouble sometimes, Katherine.”
The joke aired on November 7, 2025, while Ryan was hosting the BBC panel show. The discussion concerned David Beckham’s alleged email describing the honours committee as “a bunch of c****” after he’d previously been passed over for a knighthood.
Panellist Maisie Adam joked that King Charles could have used the same insult while knighting him. Ryan then said: “I don’t know that we are allowed to broadcast the c-word, but you did reference Victoria Beckham earlier and we’ll allow that.”
After the reaction in the studio, Ryan added: “I like her! I wasn’t expecting that response.”
Following complaints from 2 viewers, the BBC’s Executive Complaints Unit found that discussing David’s alleged language had an editorial justification. It reached a different conclusion about the joke targeting Victoria, saying “there was no such justification for a comment which presented Victoria Beckham as equivalent to a particularly offensive word.”
The offending material was removed, with an edited version designated to replace the episode on iPlayer.
The BBC had initially defended the programme’s strong language because the panel was discussing the alleged leaked emails. It also cited the show’s post-watershed broadcast and the verbal warning given at the start.
Ryan later addressed the incident on social media, saying she’d taken her 10-day-old baby to work that day and referring to matrescence, the transition into motherhood.
“At that time, though there is no defence, I was suffering from a condition called matrescence. I was in that building with a 10-day-old baby. Should I have left the house?” she said.
“Sometimes I forget that celebrities are not my friends. If I had called Jimmy Carr a c, he wouldn’t have minded.”
