Poster promoting Fern Brady’s stand-up tour ruled as ‘offensive’ to Christians by Advertising Standards Authority. The Telegraph has the story.
A free speech row has erupted after a comedian’s advert was banned for mocking the Virgin Mary.
The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has been accused of “censorship” after it ruled that a poster promoting Fern Brady‘s UK and Ireland stand-up tour was “offensive” to Christians.
The advert depicted the Scottish comic as the Virgin Mary, squirting breast milk into the mouth of a kneeling priest alongside the tour’s title, “I Gave You Milk to Drink”.
The ASA launched an investigation after the advert was placed on the Sky News website.
Its ruling found that it was “likely to be seen as mocking the religious figures shown” and also “likely to cause serious offence to some within the Christian faith who saw the ad on the site”.
Mary, the mother of Jesus, is revered by all Christians but is especially venerated by Roman Catholics.
Brady, 38, was also warned by the regulator “to not cause offence on the grounds of religion in future ads”, the ruling said.
Critics branded the decision “concerning” and said it “infantilised Christians by presuming offence on their behalf”.
Brady, who has appeared on Taskmaster, Live at the Apollo and 8 Out of 10 Cats, said in submissions to the ASA that the advert was a recreation of the 17th-century painting St Bernard and the Virgin.
The artwork, by Alonso Cano, depicted a reputed miracle in which a seriously ill Bernard of Clairvaux, a 12th-century monk who co-founded the Knights Templar, was restored to health after milk fell from a statue of the Virgin Mary into his mouth.
Brady told the regulator: “The intention was not to mock or belittle the original religious significance but to offer a contemporary interpretation that aligned with her public persona as a comedian known for her irreverent style and her religious upbringing.”
When the complaint was first made in October, she took to Instagram to describe the complainant as “some virgin”.
“There’s not even anything wrong with it,” she said. “Why are you complaining? If you’re the person who complained about my poster, I hope you never come [to the show].”
Stephen Evans, chief executive of the National Secular Society, said: “The decision to ban this advert, along with the warning issued to Fern Brady, sets a chilling precedent that resembles a modern-day blasphemy code.
“It implies that the feelings of religious groups should trump the rights of individuals to creatively express their thoughts and ideas.
“Rulings like this pander to religious reactionaries and infantilise Christians by presuming offence on their behalf. We urge the ASA to reconsider its stance and to uphold the principles of freedom of expression.”
Responding to the criticism, a spokesman for the ASA said: “Our ruling sets out our findings in full including by making clear that the decision to ban this ad rested heavily in terms of the context – the media – in which the ad appeared.”
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