Political satire show Spitting Image has been criticised for its depiction of Labour MP Jess Phillips.
The rebooted puppet show has been roundly slammed on social media for airing two scenes of the politician claiming she is an “annoying feminist” and using some pretty crude language.
The first scene shows a thief trying to steal someone’s scooter in the middle of the night before they are interrupted by a superhero: The Fox Man - or Keir Starmer who tries to de-escalate the incident. Then, another superhero figure version of Jess Phillips appears.
“Aren’t you Jess Phillips, the annoying outspoken feminist who wants to drag Labour more to the centre?” the Starmer character asks.
“No, I’m Viral, the annoying outspoken feminist superhero who wants to make Labour more electable.”
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She then whips out a chainsaw and says: “Convene my big Labour v*g” before cutting the man’s scooter in half.
“An adult man should not be on a scooter like a baby,” she says. “You want to suck some f***ing milk from my big Labour t*ts?”
Keir Starmer gets a lesson from Jess Phillips on how to be a leader @keir_starmer @jessphillips #foxman #viral pic.twitter.com/AOpQIQDkPk
— Spitting Image (@SpittingImage) October 3, 2021
The show then also implied the politician cares more about social media than unity in the Labour Party and mocked her for being “angry” about the patriarchy.
Meanwhile, in another scene, Starmer asks Phillips for help getting attention at the Labour Party conference. To rile him up, she hits him across the face with a pan.
Reacting to the clips, people thought they were unacceptable, particularly because Phillips has faced sexist abuse during her time in politics and given the reporting on violence against women that has dominated the news:
genuinely kind of impressive that spitting image have apparently managed to do a portrayal of jess philips that is so crass and tasteless and unfunny that her mortal enemies on the left are actually offended on her behalf
— Archie Woodrow (@Archimbaldo) October 4, 2021
there's a lot of things to get mad about here, right now i'm choosing the accent, i'll move on to the rest later
— Cassie (@Cassiesmyth) October 4, 2021
who needs to satirise a Labour MP's personality when she's got a vag! Job done
— Charlotte Green (@CharGreenLDR) October 4, 2021
Wild that they tagged her into this as well
— Eddie Robson (@EddieRobson) October 4, 2021
Shiiiiiiiit on toast, what the hell
— James Moran (@jamesmoran) October 4, 2021
What the fuck did I just watch?
— Louis Barfe (@AlanKelloggs) October 4, 2021
It’s so weird how is simultaneously posits her as a kind of bad-ass who gets the job done while also just being rankly misogynistic? Such a strange and I think revealing combination!
— James Greig (@jamesdgreig) October 4, 2021
This is fkn horrible
— Rachel Parris (@rachelparris) October 4, 2021
The optics of people interrupting a crime at night after the last week and then including overtly grim sexualised "joke" references is a bit, uhhhh
— Mollie Goodfellow (@hansmollman) October 4, 2021
I don’t know, it’s a yikes from me you guys https://t.co/clDc8SBObE pic.twitter.com/YayhVKmz25
— Mollie Goodfellow (@hansmollman) October 4, 2021
Many good friends work on Spitting Image so I’m not keen to have a go at it but wtf is this? Depicting the female politician utilising her “big vag” and inviting ppl to milk her“big tits”. This is a female politician who has incidentally been subject to rape and death threats… https://t.co/uVq0BhuDei
— Rachel Parris (@rachelparris) October 4, 2021
It is not the first time the show has faced a backlash. Earlier this year, it was lambasted for its depiction of England footballer Marcus Rashford, with critics both questioning the show’s decision to target him while he had been subjected to racist abuse following the Euros, and suggesting that it does not resemble him in any way.
Meanwhile, after it depicted Greta Thunberg in 2020, some said it was unfair to target her. The show issued a statement explaining it stood by its decision, adding “it’s nothing to do with her as an individual”.
Britbox declined to comment when indy100 contacted them on this occasion. Indy100 has also contacted Jess Phillips.
