The media regulator has decided not to launch an investigation into Kelvin MacKenzie referring to Nicola Sturgeon as the “lady who runs Jockestan” on BBC2’s The Daily Politics show, after deciding that the comment was “justified by the context”.
Ofcom received almost 80 complaints from members of the public who found the comment about Scotland’s first minister offensive.
MacKenzie, who has a habit of making provocative comments, made the remark on the BBC2 politics show on 21 September.
The media regulator said it has assessed the incident and has decided it will not formally move to investigate whether MacKenzie’s remark potentially breached the UK broadcasting code because it was “justified by the context”.
“We received a number of complaints about comments made by Kelvin MacKenzie on this programme, but decided they didn’t raise issues under our rules warranting further investigation,” said a spokesman for Ofcom.
“The off-the-cuff remark was made during a political analysis programme and the offence caused by this comment was on balance justified by the context.”
