TV watchdog Ofcom has assessed complaints that football pundit Ian Wright mocked Roy Keane’s accent and said that the “exchange was intended in good humour”.
Viewers complained about former England striker Wright on ITV’s World Cup Live coverage of the England versus Croatia game.
Wright mocked how ex-Republic of Ireland midfielder Keane pronounced the word “final”.
Roy Keane believes some people have got carried away…
Safe to say @IanWright0 disagrees 😂 #ENG #WorldCup pic.twitter.com/FZ4qa9TAWm
— ITV Football (@itvfootball) July 11, 2018
Ofcom assessed the complaints but decided not to launch an investigation.
“We carefully assessed complaints from viewers who objected to one pundit imitating another’s accent,” it said.
“However, we found the exchange was intended in good humour.”
Me and my mate 😁❤️ pic.twitter.com/mkMf5Fy5Hw
— Ian Wright (@IanWright0) July 12, 2018
Ofcom also assessed but decided not to investigate complaints about Love Island, including bad language, which it said was properly obscured by bleeping.
It also dismissed complaints about the emotional welfare of contestant Laura within her relationship with Jack, which it said was “within the expectations of the audience considering the established format” of the ITV2 programme.