BBC rejects Springer blasphemy complaints

BBC governors have rejected 63,000 viewer complaints about Jerry Springer - The Opera and ruled the BBC was right to show it.

The controversial musical sparked outrage and accusations of blasphemy when it was screened earlier this year.

The governors’ five-strong Programme Complaints Committee ruled today that the “outstanding artistic significance” of the work outweighed the offence it caused.

One Governor, a prominent Christian, broke ranks and said she “profoundly disagreed” with the decision.

Angela Sarkis, former vice-president of the African Caribbean Evangelical Alliance and former chief executive of the Church Urban Fund, said the religious references “would have been considered literal portrayal of holy figures by many people”.

The musical featured a nappy-wearing Jesus declaring he was “a little bit gay”, and described Mary as being “raped by an angel, raped by God”.

The BBC received 55,000 complaints prior to transmission and 8,000 after it was shown.

But the Committee opted not to consider the 55,000 pre-transmission complaints when making their report because the complainants had not seen the programme. In its report, the Committee noted that “a proportion of them appeared to be part of an organised email campaign”.