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London, Apr 5 (ANI): Scottish comedian Frankie Boyle and Channel 4 have been censured by media regulator Ofcom for broadcasting “offensive” jokes about model Katie Price a.k.a. Jordan and her disabled son Harvey.

Ofcom said the broadcast in December, which received 500 complaints about 38-year-old Boyle’s routine, appeared to “target and mock the mental and physical disabilities” of 8-year-old Harvey.

Price, 32, was among those who complained about the comments in Boyle’s comedy series Tramadol Nights, saying they were “discriminatory, offensive, demeaning and humiliating”.

In response Channel 4 said Boyle’s comedy was not “intended as a slur on any particular community”, and that “everyone is fair game in Frankie’s eyes”.

The broadcaster also said Boyle’s remarks were meant to make fun of Price’s alleged “exploitation of her children for publicity purposes, her behaviour as a mother and her cavalier attitude towards relationships”.

Channel 4’s chief executive David Abraham had personally sanctioned the jokes before they were broadcast.

But the regulator ruled that allowing the jokes to be screened was “an erroneous decision on a matter of editorial judgement on the broadcaster’s part”.

Ofcom accepted that Price and ex-husbands Alex Reid and Peter Andre had “consciously exposed their and their children’s lives to the media” and must expect to be the targets of humour and criticism.

But it said that the broadcaster had no right to use a child for its own gain.

“The fact that a public figure chooses to expose some aspects of his or her child’s life in the media does not provide broadcasters with unlimited licence to broadcast comedy that targets humour at such a child’s expense,” the BBC quoted the regulator as saying.

“Ofcom was of the view that the material in question appeared to directly target and mock the mental and physical disabilities of a known eight year-old child who had not himself chosen to be in the public eye.

“As such, Ofcom found that the comments had considerable potential to be highly offensive to the audience,” it stated.

Ofcom said the second episode of Boyle’s comedy series, aired on December 7, broke two rules in its broadcasting code.

A Channel 4 statement said it “acknowledges” Ofcom’s findings, and a spokesperson pointed out Ofcom did not fine the channel or force it to issue an on-air apology.

Price responded by saying that she was pleased that Ofcom had ruled against Channel 4 but was “amazed” the regulator did not require an apology to be broadcast.

“This strikes me as a further insult to my wonderful son and another in a series of failures in this sordid affair,” she stated.

She added that Channel 4’s role, as the official broadcaster for the 2012 Paralympics, should now be questioned.

“Would they have taken this route if Harvey was the child of a well-known politician?” she asked.

“It is clear that people at the highest levels in Channel 4 made a major misjudgement and that they are not capable of seeing how wrong their behaviour was,” she added. (ANI)