Recent articles
Basil Brush is being investigated after a complaint was made about an alleged racist joke in the puppet's BBC series.
A complaint was received by the police following a recent screening of an old episode that features the fox telling jokes about gypsies, reports Metro.
The episode, which was originally shown six years ago, features a sketch where a gypsy woman tries to sell Basil some wooden pegs.
A police spokesperson said: "We can confirm we have received a complaint about a TV show featuring Basil Brush from a member of the public in February. The complaint was logged as an incident of a racist nature."
Joseph Jones, a spokesperson for the Romany, Gipsy and Irish Traveller Network, said: "Racist abuse of black people is quite rightly no longer deemed acceptable, but when a comedian makes a joke on TV about pikeys or gypos, there's no comeback."
Did you see the offending episode? Do you think Basil should be banished from our screens?
Comment on this article
Please sign in to add your comments.
User comments
What the hell, this is so stupid. Its just a joke. Not even that many kids know what a pikey is. And what are grown men doing watching basil brush anyway?
Posted by: ashley.mulcahy on Tue Mar 18 05:55PM | Report abusePIKEYS! since when was a pikey a race? I'd even question the validity of asigning the term race to gypsy. Vis wikipedia: The Roma (as a noun, singular Rom, plural Roma; sometimes Rrom, Rroma, Romany people, Romani people or Romanies) belong to many ethnic groups that appear in literature and folklore, and are often referred to as Gypsies or Gipsies. The Roma have their origins in India.[31][32] The Roma are still thought of as wandering nomads in the popular imagination, despite the fact that today the vast majority live in permanent housing.[33] This widely dispersed ethnic group lives across the world not only near Southern and Eastern Europe,[34] but also in the American continent and the Middle East. So acording to that Gypsy means nomad, traveller or PIKEY! No race inferred
Posted by: inker on Tue Mar 18 05:59PM | Report abuseCharge the person complaining with wasting police time.
Posted by: adbloomfield on Tue Mar 18 06:01PM | Report abuseno way the jipsies shudnt even be here im on basil brushes side and if the police decide to close him down that couled be kids favriute tv shows so think wat ur doin DOWNT CLOSE BASIL BRUSH DOWNXXXX
Posted by: samandian.kelsey on Tue Mar 18 06:12PM | Report abusebasil brush is really good entertainment how sad it would b if we had to get rid of him if we go rid of everyone who made a coment we would have no-one left to entertain wat is the world coming to you can't do anythin these days.
Posted by: dephgrave on Tue Mar 18 06:16PM | Report abuseomg a stupid person hwo shuldent even be in this contruy is telling english police to close basil down and sometimes police dont even belive english never mind jipsis !!!!
Posted by: samandian.kelsey on Tue Mar 18 06:18PM | Report abuseThis is pathetic.Stupid politically correct world we live in has gone insane! people dont complain when stand up comedians make these jokes do you? so whats the big deal!!
Posted by: amir.gill412 on Tue Mar 18 06:22PM | Report abuseIf you banish Basil Bush I will be upset and I like Basil's show Basil Brush's swap shop wah wah wah!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Posted by: zoe_davis on Tue Mar 18 06:40PM | Report abuseHe's a stuffed toy!!!!!
Posted by: philtyrrell on Tue Mar 18 07:07PM | Report abuseHe's a stuffed toy!!!!!
Posted by: philtyrrell on Tue Mar 18 07:07PM | Report abuse