Britain’s Got Talent receives 304 Ofcom complaints for vicar Allan Finnegan’s ‘insensitive jokes’

Britain’s Got Talent has received 312 complaints about one of its contestant’s death jokes after some viewers found the content insensitive during a pandemic.

Comedian vicar Allan Finnegan included several lines about funerals and people passing away during his performance on Saturday.

The complaints about his comedy sketch come after BGT received 24,041 objections following Diversity’s Black Lives Matter dance routine on September 5.

Now it has been revealed that after Allan’s performance on Saturday’s show Ofcom received complaints from hundreds of people.

The regulator confirmed to MailOnline that they had received 312 complaints regarding the September 12 episode of the talent show.

An Ofcom spokesperson said: ‘We are assessing these complaints against our broadcasting rules, but are yet to decide whether or not to investigate.’

Viewers were left unimpressed after Allan’s performance when he made jokes about death during the semi-final. 

The Scouse vicar drew ire from fans on social media after many thought some of his jokes were insensitive amid the Covid-19 outbreak.

Allan often uses his job in his act and began his routine by joking about forgetting the name of a deceased person while at their funeral. 

He said: ‘I forgot to put the deceased’s name down on my notes, I think it’s Hilda but I can’t be sure, the next minute it feels like a game of Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?

‘I’d have loved to have gone 50/50 or phone a friend – I am just glad it wasn’t Deal Or No Deal, I wasn’t going to open that box for no offer.’

He then made a joke about his only uncle passing away after he had picked his name in a family Secret Santa.

Allan said: ‘Just before Christmas my only uncle passed away, God rest his soul and well… I had him in the Secret Santa so every cloud, saved me 20 quid that did.’

Unimpressed viewers took to social media to react to his routine, with one writing: ‘Joking about death during a pandemic! Tasteless!’

Another said: ‘Don’t find joking about death funny and especially in the current time.’

While someone else added: ‘#BGT awkward as hell and not at all funny, a “comedian” joking about death in the current pandemic where so many people have lost loved ones.  

Allan’s performance drew mixed reactions from the judges, with Ashley Banjo commenting: ‘You had some good moments, but halfway through it lost me, I don’t think it landed and hit as much as you wanted it to.’

David Walliams had a more positive reaction, saying: ‘Good comedians need to be memorable and you’re really memorable, you’re Scouse and a man of the cloth, really liked that the jokes were about what you do.’   

MailOnline has contacted a representative for Britain’s Got Talent for comment.

BGT has also received thousands of complaints, with the current total at 24,041, in the past two weeks concerning Diversity’s polarising BLM performance. 

The routine, which narrated the senseless death of black man George Floyd beneath the knee of a white police officer, divided fans after it aired during the live show on Saturday September 5th. 

The negative response has made it the second most complained about TV moment of all time, just behind Roxanne’s Pallett’s notorious appearance on Celebrity Big Brother, with a record 25,237 objections.