Jordan Gray: Trans comic responds to naked Friday Night Live skit getting 1,400 Ofcom complaints
‘I hope that in choosing to do this performance, I’ve opened the door a crack wider for more acceptance in the long run,’ she said
Comedian Jordan Gray has responded to the viewers who complained to Ofcom after she stripped naked on Channel 4 as part of the revival of Friday Night Live.
The Eighties comedy series returned for a one-off episode on 21 October as part of the channel’s 40th anniversary celebrations.
Ben Elton was back as the host, along with former Friday Night Live cast members Harry Enfield, Jo Brand and Julian Clary.
A number of new comedians also appeared on the show, including Gray.
Gray, who is trans, performed a rendition of the song “Better than You” from her hit Edinburgh Fringe show Is It A Bird?.
At the end of the song, Gray shouted out: “The best thing about live TV is I can do stupid stuff like this…”
After improvising on the keyboard, she then ran across the stage and stripped completely naked to applause and cheers from the audience, before returning to the keyboard and playing it with her penis.
Media regulator Ofcom has since received more than 1,4000 complaints about the episode.
A spokesperson told Metro: “We are assessing the complaints against our broadcasting rules, but are yet to decide whether or not to investigate.”
Responding to this news, Gray told the publication: “It’s been incredibly heart-warming that the vast majority of the press has been so overwhelmingly positive about my Friday Night Live performance.
“Of course, social media has had more of a mixed response, but I’m amazed and thankful for the thousands of supportive messages I’ve received. And I’m doing my best to engage with the people who aren’t so sure.
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“And then there are some comments that are just hatred and leave no room to engage with.”
She added: “I hope that in choosing to do this performance, I’ve opened the door a crack wider for more acceptance in the long run, so that those who come after me, will one day no longer have to deal with that kind of reaction.”
In a five-star review of Gray’s Fringe show, The Independent’s Isobel Lewis wrote that the moment of nudity was “as shocking as it is hilarious”.
“A friend told me that her mum went into Is it a Bird? with scepticism towards trans issues, but left understanding, for the first time, what the community actually goes through,” the review reads.
“It would be easy to think that Gray’s work is light-hearted, crass and fun – because it is. But it can, and will, change opinions and lives.”