Frankie Boyle has been cleared by Ofcom after making a joke about Boris Johnson on The Last Leg.
While appearing on the Channel 4 panel show last month, the comedian said he hoped the Prime Minister would be “dragged screaming into hell” following the news of his resignation.
Boyle delivered the quip after Johnson concluded his final Prime Minister’s Questions by quoting the Terminator line: “Hasta la vista, baby.”
In response, the comedian said: “You finished with a quote from The Terminator. The Terminator! After you killed 150,000 fucking people during the pandemic.
“I don’t want to sound like I’ve got a grudge or anything, but I hope a vent opens up in the ground and clawed hands drag you screaming into hell.”
Boyle’s comments prompted 11 viewers to file official complaints to Ofcom. However, the TV regulator has now confirmed that it won’t be taking any action.
Following the commercial break, host Adam Hills did his best to quell any chance of controversy by telling viewers: “We do not wish Boris Johnson any ill.”
During his appearance on the show, Boyle also took aim at Conservative MPs Rishi Sunak and Liz Truss, who are contending to take Johnson’s place in 10 Downing Street.
“We’re going to have the next Prime Minister chosen by a very small group of elderly people during a heatwave and it’s going to be either Rishi Sunak, a guy whose greatest desire in life is to be pegged by Thatcher’s ghost, or Liz Truss, who would be the first Prime Minister to forget to breathe and just die,” he said.
Last month, Boyle questioned the existence of cancel culture during his set at Latitude.
“I’m not one of those comedians who’s like, ‘Ooh, I’ve been silenced’,” Boyle told the crowd, according to the BBC.
He added: “I hate those people. Anytime I hear someone saying that, I always think, ‘How come I can still hear you?’”