Yahoo News Katherine Ryan says offended viewers were ‘too thick’ to understand Rosie Jones’ Greta Thunberg joke
Katherine Ryan has defended a controversial joke made by comedian Rosie Jones about the climate activist Greta Thunberg.
In January, Jones sparked outrage during an appearance on the New Year’s Eve edition of The Last Leg. She joked that Thunberg, who she described as “amazing”, “needs to live a little”.
“She’s only 16,” Jones said. “She should be doing two things: drinking Lambrini and getting fingered.”
Ryan has since claimed that offended viewers were “too thick” to understand Jones’ humour.
“I think they don’t have a position to be outraged,” she told Metro. “She was just relating her own experience. The truth is what a lot of us were doing when we were 16. It’s just getting off with boys behind the bins – we weren’t fighting climate change. That was the joke. People just misunderstood.
“A lot of the time when people get offended, it’s not the joke, it’s the fact that they’re too thick to understand the joke. I absolutely think that’s what happened.”
She added, “Do you think Rosie Jones meant any harm at all towards Greta Thunberg? It’s just so ridiculous. There are grown men all over America, and the world, who wish actual harm against Greta Thunberg and Rosie is not one… I think she’s an absolute star.”
A number of shocked viewers expressed their unease with Jones’ joke on Twitter shortly after it was broadcast.
“Rosie Jones was totally inappropriate,” read one tweet. “I normally like your show, but what she said about a 16 year old is below any standards.”
Another viewer added: “I’m disgusted by the comment that Rosie Jones just made on your show. It shouldn’t have been applauded.”
Ofcom announced in January that 22 people had filed formal complaints about Jones’ joke.
