Share and Follow
Comedian Rosie Jones is facing criticism after making a controversial joke about beloved broadcaster Sir David Attenborough. The 35-year-old, known for her appearances on Taskmaster, recently shared a snippet from her stand-up routine on Instagram, where she jested about “waiting” for the 99-year-old naturalist to pass away.
Accompanying photos of herself performing on stage, Rosie captioned the post with, “I love David Attenborough, but right now I am waiting for him to die. Hear me out – he’s a national treasure! But right now, in the UK, we have so many national treasures, if anything, too many. Right now, we’re talking a one-in, one-out situation. And I want in!” she concluded.
Her postscript added a further tongue-in-cheek clarification: “Listen. I’m not wishing anything BAD on Dave. I’m just saying… I’m here… waiting…”
While the post garnered laughs and numerous cry-laughing emojis from many of her followers, not everyone shared the same sense of humor. Some found the joke distasteful, with one user commenting, “Just me or does this feel distasteful to anyone else?”
One wrote: “Just me or does this feel distasteful to anyone else?”
While another echoed: “So unclassy.” A third said: “As an Attenborough fan this is wildly offensive.”
Other fans saw the funny side, with one writing: “This is going to look so suspicious if he dies soon. I’ve got my eye on you Rosie.”
“I’m just really scared he dies soon and you’re under the spotlight!” another joked.
It comes just months after Rosie slammed fellow comedians Jimmy Carr and Ricky Gervais for their controversial trans jokes.
She branded them “privileged cis white straight men” who “open their newspaper and go, ‘Oh, people are talking about trans people. I can know a bit about that without experiencing it at all.’”
Rosie said: “To those boys, I’d say with respect, shut the f*** up.”