Sir Billy Connolly has been cleared by Ofcom following complaints over a joke about a cat being run over by a car.
Over the festive period, Sir Billy cracked the gag during his ITV documentary Billy Connolly: An Absolute Pleasure, where the comic, 79, recalled part of his stand-up routine which involved a story about a man who accidentally runs over a cat while travelling the Highlands.
Thinking the cat on its last breath at the side of the road, the man hits the feline with a hammer to ‘put it out of its misery’.
However, it turns out the cat struck by the car is caught in the wheel arch and the one beaten with a hammer was perfectly healthy.
After hearing the joke, two people complained to the TV watchdog, claiming the routine was a cruel gag about animal cruelty.
After assessing the routine, Ofcom has now ruled there was nothing about the scene that would warrant further action under the Broadcasting Code.
During the special, Sir Billy chuckled as he called the joke ‘one of his favourites’ after hearing the story from friend Liam Neeson, which was said to have happened to one of the crew members on the 1995 movie Rob Roy.
‘It’s joined the pantheon of things I’m proud of,’ he said.
‘It’s very encouraging that you can take reality and dress it up and make people fall about laughing.
‘Shock is an intrinsic part of comedy. The shock of the punchline from nowhere just gets people, they love it.’
The complaints come after the legend claimed he’d be ‘cancelled’ in today’s comedic landscape, throwing his take on the debate surrounding ‘cancel culture’ – which sees large groups or fandoms choosing to essentially erase a public figure and their career in the public eye in light of a scandal or controversial issue.
‘Because of political correctness people have pulled in the horns. I couldn’t have started today with the talent I had then,’ he told Newstalk ZB.
Billy Connolly: An Absolute Pleasure is available to stream on ITV Hub.
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