Criticism and Controversy
On 6 June 2008, the programme was criticised by British newspaper The Guardian as offensive and hateful to both men and women, for being sexist, and a case of feminism gone too far due to the concept of having a politically incorrect representation of an all-female cast of panellists, as well as the lecherous and patronising behaviour of the panellists.
On 17 June 2008, comedienne Joan Rivers was a guest on the show and made an error by not realising that the show was completely live and not recorded. She said "get ready to bleep this" before calling film star Russell Crowe a "fucking shit", which subsequently went live to the public on ITV at approximately 1pm in the afternoon. Anchor Jackie Brambles immediately apologised for Rivers' outburst as the audience laughed hysterically, and during the commercial break Rivers was asked to leave the set and not invited to come back for her final segment. A spokesperson for the show said, "Guests are always briefed that it is a live daytime show and are reminded not to swear or use inappropriate language. An editorial decision was taken that Rivers should not appear in the final part of the programme. We would like to apologise to Loose Women viewers for the inappropriate language used on today's show." Rivers, for her part, finds it all quite funny. "I said: 'I apologise.' Everyone apologised. It was hilariously funny," she says. Joan adds that this was the first time she had been removed from a TV show in 40 years and she was "thrilled".
After winning the 2010 National Television Award for "Most Popular Factual Programme", Jan Moir from the Daily Mail wrote an article entitled "How was Loose Women voted best factual TV show when it is fronted by a gaggle of sexual incontinents?". The article goes on to discuss how it shows a feminist viewpoint as well as its sexual content, for example, "'I don't like a sucking noise,' said Sherrie, an observation that raised a geyser of sniggers from the smutbuckets who surrounded her. In Loose Women world, no entendre is ever left undoubled." Moir also criticised the quality of guests compared to the similar version of the show in the United States
On a podcast with Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant, An Idiot Abroad star Karl Pilkington said he did not want viewers of shows like Loose Women to watch his show. He went on to describe the programme as "flumpf telly" which "you don't have to think about".
Read more about this topic: Loose Women
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