BBC bosses have defended two Have I Got News For You comedians after they used an ‘unacceptable’ slur.

Katherine Ryan and Maisie Adam both dropped the C-word on the long-running show when it was broadcast on November 31.

The women were talking during a segment about Sir David Beckham, 50, receiving his knighthood at Windsor Castle.

Journalist Ian Hislop, 65, said: ‘But he was meant not to get it, wasn’t he? ‘Cause he’d been pitching for it, and it was considered bad form to be desperate.’

Katherine, 42, was hosting the show. She added context to the story, reading her script: ‘In 2013, when he did not get a knighthood, he emailed his PR saying, “They’re a bunch of c**ts I expected nothing less”.’

Maisie, 31, added: ‘It would have been nice and maybe, like, poetic if Charles had got hi

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