06 September 2023 , 21:10
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Lee Mack has hit out at overly sensitive National Television Awards viewers that tuned in from home and got offended by a risqué joke he made about sports champion Jill Scott.
The 55-year-old comedian took to the stage when his ITV game show The 1% Club scooped the Quiz Game Show award. The gong itself was handed out by 36-year-old football star Jill and 35-year-old comedy star Mo Gilligan who teamed up together to be the award presenters for that category.
And as Lee accepted the award, he cracked a joke about the shape of the National Television Award that he was gifted. The gongs for the 2023 ceremony were shaped like an upside down tornado with a ball attached to the tip.
Receiving the heavy trophy, Lee quipped: To receive a sex toy like this off Jill Scott is an absolute pleasure." And while the live studio audience erupted into laughter, those watching along from home were up in arms - and complaints quickly flooded social media.
Lee Mack cracked a joke about the National Television Award trophy shape (Matt Crossick/REX/Shutterstock for NTA)
The award was presented by Jill Scott and Mo Gilligan (James Veysey/REX/Shutterstock for NTA)Speaking to The Sun following the backlash, Lee suggested TV viewers just didn’t get his humour. Suggesting live audiences are more in tune with comedians, he explained: “My job as a stand-up comedian is to take the mickey out of the contestants.
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"I decided never to be too cheesy with it. I just wanted to try to have a bit of a laugh. It's just like a gig, especially to 100 people. That was most of my Edinburgh Fringe shows back in the early days to 100 people. It's quite an intimate laugh and the one thing is the audience really can take it, you can take the mickey out of them. It's the people who are watching who get offended, not the audience. They're always OK about it."
Lee’s joke was met with a wall of complaints from TV viewers who took to X, the social media platform previously known as Twitter, to complain. One suggested the comedy star could have torpedoed his own career, writing: “Well lee mack is gonna get cancelled now." And another complained: “Not sure @LeeMack did himself any favours there. Still a big fan of 1% club."
While a further critical viewers wrote: "Watching lee mack trying to be funny is just painful." The awards had many high and low points on Tuesday evening. High points included EastEnders winning the Serial Drama award - with a huge number of the cast taking to the stage to accept the award.
While individual cast mates Bobby Brazier and Danielle Harold won the Rising Star and Serial Drama Performance award respectively. Ant and Dec also continued their reign as best TV presenters as they were given the award for the 22nd year in a row.
It was a tough night for This Morning, however, as Alison Hammond failed to win best presenter and the show itself lost out on the best Daytime award for the first time in 13 years. While the presenters were booed by the live arena audience when they were featured on screen.