The BBC has censored the latest snatch game episode of RuPaul’s Drag Race Down Under, removing a slew of jokes made at the expense of Prince Andrew. Conflama!
The show’s Snatch Game challenge sees contestant showcase their grandest celebrity impersonations in a game show setting. New Zealand’s Anita Wigl’it donned a darling buttery number in impersonation of Queen Elizabeth II.
Wigl’it’s impersonation was deliciously snipey, a no-holds-barred slag on Prince Andrew’s controversial relationship with the convicted sex offender, Jeffrey Epstein. Delivering snide remarks like “I wish a dingo had taken my baby, then I wouldn’t have to have dealt with Prince Andrew.”
A BBC spokesperson confirmed the change, but did not illuminate why the broadcasting company decided to omit the comment “The BBC occasionally makes edits to acquired programmes in accordance with UK audience expectations.”
Another joke made by Wigl’it about Prince Philip, filmed before the Duke of Edinburgh’s death, was also ommitted from the British broadcast.
A few royal family jokes did make the BBC broadcast, including one in which Lizzie advises Meghan, Duchess of Sussex was “don’t piss me off – and wear a seatbelt” and and “When somebody turns 100, I write them a letter, and when somebody turns 16 Prince Andrew sends them a text.”
Prince Andrew has been embroiled in a controversy surrounding his relationship with the deceased financier. A longtime friend of Epstein, Andrew has been accused of witnessing and engaging in exploitation of young women and girls. He was widely condemned for maintaining a relationship with Epstein after he was arrested in Florida in 2010 after a sex crime conviction.
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The Duke of York, repeatedly denied accusations by Virginia Roberts Giuffre that he had sex with her when she was 17 years old after being offered to him by Epstein.
Amid these accusations coming to light, Prince Andrew, who has since stepped back from royal duties, attempted to clear his name with a bumbling interview for BBC Newsnight.
