“Poof” may no longer be a derogatory word when used on television, Ofcom has said, after rejecting 200 complaints over Big Brother.

A contestant twice used the term on the Channel 4 show — but the first comment went unchallenged and the second earned her only a reprimand in the programme’s “Diary Room”. A number of viewers complained that the word “poof” is just as offensive to homosexuals as “nigger” is to black people.

But Ofcom cleared the programme of discrimination and double standards, adding that the word presented some difficulties for regulators.

“In our view, it is not possible or appropriate at present to establish definitively the degree of offence use of the word ‘poof’ can cause in all contexts,” the watchdog said.

“For example, it is clear that within the gay community itself, the word ‘poof’ can be used in a playful, affectionate or self-deprecating way.

“This is evidenced, for example, by the use of the word in [the BBC One show] Friday Night with Jonathan Ross, with its resident band Four Poofs and a Piano.

“In Ofcom’s view, there is insufficient or no evidence to suggest that Laura Williams used the word complained of in a denigratory way.”

Ofcom said, however, that it was “sympathetic” to concerns that the word might be emulated by younger viewers, with the consequent risk of bullying at school. Broadcasters were urged to exercise care about the frequency with, and context in which, the word is broadcast.

Last year the BBC governors’ complaints committee cleared Chris Moyles, the Radio 1 breakfast DJ, of any offence over his use of the word “gay”. The governors said that young people commonly used the term to mean “lame” or “rubbish”.

Channel 4 was also cleared over this summer’s Big Brother race row. Ofcom said the broadcaster was right to show student Emily Parr using the word “nigger” because the programme made clear that her comment was offensive and unacceptable.

The regulator rejected accusations from viewers of double standards over Channel 4’s decision to evict Ms Parr from the house while keeping in Ms Williams. Ms Parr’s comment and subsequent departure prompted 450 complaints to Ofcom, while Ms Williams attracted a further 200.

Ms Williams directed her remarks at her heterosexual housemate Liam McGough, calling him a “poof” when he squirmed during a tickling game and again when he walked out of the Diary Room wearing a vest, waistcoat and leather flat cap.

Channel 4 said that it underestimated the potential offence caused by Ms Williams. When Ms Williams used the term again, she was called into the Diary Room and was told that “Big Brother” would not tolerate homophobic language. By contrast, Ms Parr was removed from the house.

A term of non-endearment

— Shakespeare’s character Sir John Falstaff was described in the 17th century as being a “Thrasonical puff”, meaning braggart. A puff is identified as “a short impulsive blast of breath or wind”

— The Oxford English Dictionary identifies an effeminate connotation in an 1850 usage: “These monsters in the shape of men, commonly designated Margeries, Pooffs, etc”

— In Slang and Its Analogues, 1902, by Farmer and Henley, “puff” is given the meaning “sodomist” in slang attributed to tramps. “Pouftah” is traced to Australia in 1889

— In W. H. Auden’s Orators in 1932, the homosexual poet wrote: “Poofs and ponces, All of them dunces”

— In It Ain’t Half Hot, Mum (1974-81) Sergeant-Major Williams (Windsor Davies), referred to his army concert band as “a bunch of pooftahs”.

— In 2006 the Big Brother contestant Shahbaz described himself as a “wacky Paki poof without a corner shop”

— This year the columnist Richard Littlejohn referred to Tony Blair as a “spineless Islington poof” in a book: the former Prime Minister “didn’t even have the balls to deck me” at a dinner party

Source: Times database

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