Ofcom shows people The Boys’ ‘Herogasm’ without context - it goes as well as you’d expect

Prime Video’s hit series The Boys pretty much prides itself on producing some of the most outrageous and depraved scenes imaginable (from a tiny man inside a penis to outright bestiality), and the broadcasting watchdog Ofcom wanted to see where members of the public draw the line.

Although, if you watch the “Herogasm” episode of the action series – about a world in which superheroes or ‘supes’ are actually morally corrupt, abusive individuals – without the necessary context, then you get the kind of reactions you’d expect.

For the avoidance of spoilers (and being called into our editor’s office for breaching editorial guidelines), “Herogasm” is an episode from series three in which the aforementioned terrible superheroes gather for one massive orgy.

Yep, that’s pretty much all we can say about that.

The reason Ofcom showed the episode to members of the public was to find out more about “audience expectations of linear and on-demand services”, including in relation to “harm and offence”.

Despite many participants initially saying nothing on TV left them harmed or offended – with one woman from South England claiming it’s “going too far” to the extent that “some people can be offended by the day of the week” – some stopped watching the clip from The Boys because it “bordered on pornographic”.

Well…

Though perhaps the most hilarious comment in response to “Herogasm” came from one man from South England - identified only as white, a non-parent and aged between 18 and 34.

He told the regulator: “[The Boys could be on linear TV] very late at night. But not at 9pm. Not a roaming penis on your screen.”

If you know, you know.

In a press release, Ofcom explained the reasoning behind the study and said: “We know societal attitudes towards harm and offence change over time and therefore it is critical that our approach to regulation also evolves to reflect the public’s changing concerns.

“To help us understand viewers’ and listeners’ expectations and attitudes and to inform our future regulation, we regularly conduct audience research on a range of important issues.

“The findings set out in these reports will help inform us of the effectiveness of the current rules that apply to broadcast TV and on-demand services. They will also help broadcasters to better understand audience expectations as they exercise their editorial freedom to create a broad range of content.”

Participants were asked to review nine clips from TV shows in total, with other programmes including The Handmaid’s Tale, comedian Jimmy Carr’s special His Dark Material, and Little Britain.

After participants found the clip from the David Walliams and Matt Lucas sketch show - in which the former plays an assistant "using offensive language to describe an Asian student" - "explicitly racist and outdated", the news left users on X (formerly Twitter) divided:

Tory MP Lee Anderson, a white man, wasn't impressed either, proclaiming on GB News that the clip from Little Britain is "not racist".

"These people at Ofcom - I don't know who they are - who they're selecting to watch these programmes, but they need to get a grip. They need to get a life.

"This is still funny, it's not dated, it's not racist; it's just British comedy at its best," he said.

The BBC has defended making the show available (with a warning) on BBC iPlayer, saying all jokes in its output are "judged on context and intent" and the programme is "intended to expose and ridicule some of the outdated prejudices and racism that still exist in parts of British society".

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