Jo Brand calls out the Have I Got News For You panel for not taking sexual harassment seriously

Jo Brand calls out the Have I Got News For You panel for not taking sexual harassment seriously

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Jo Brand was at the helm of Have I Got News For You last night – and while fronting the show, stood up for all women.

Basically, she’s our new hero.

Jo was hosting the panel show, with regular team captains Ian Hislop and Paul Merton being joined by journalist Quentin Letts and actor Miles Jupp.

Of course, in a week of sexual harassment allegations in Hollywood and in UK politics, the panellists addressed Michael Fallon stepping down as Defence Secretary after he was accused of sexually harassing Julia Hartley Brewer by putting his hands on her knee.

Jo Brand calls out Have I Got News For You men for not taking sexual harassment seriously
Jo shut down Ian Hislop and Quentin Letts (Picture: BBC)

Hislop questioned ‘what else Fallon had done’ as Hartley Brewer had said she didn’t care about the incident, to which his teammate Letts said: ‘He’s brave! Hartley Brewer, big strong girl.’

Jo, 60, was unimpressed, cutting in to say: ‘She’s a woman Quentin, not a girl.’

Letts also said that the Westminster situation ‘wasn’t a sex scandal because there was no sex’.

But that wasn’t the only calling out on sexism the comedian had to do during the show.

The panellists discussed the leaked dossier which accuses Tory MPs of inappropriate behaviour, with Jo reading out some of the redacted allegations.

Jo Brand calls out Have I Got News For You men for not taking sexual harassment seriously
Jo expertly explained why ‘low-level’ sexual harassment matters (Picture: BBC)

One said an MP brought his personal trainer to the cinema, which the panellists all started laughing at.

Hislop quipped: ‘Some of this is not high level crime, is it?’

Then, Jo stepped in to give a lesson in, well, not poking fun at sexual harassment.

More: Jo Brand

She said: ‘If I can just say, as the only representative of the female gender here today… I know it’s not high level, but it doesn’t have to be high level for women to feel under siege in somewhere like the House of Commons.

‘And actually, for women, if you’re constantly being harassed, even in a small way, that builds up and it wears you down.’

The panellists sheepishly looked on as the audience began applauding, with Hislop conceding: ‘I do point out, with four blokes sitting around you, we’re hardly in the position to say “that’s rubbish”.’

Female viewers of HIGNFY rushed to congratulate and thank Jo on Twitter:

Thank you for standing up for female kind on #hignfy. Such a shame you had to explain it, which highlights what we're up against, sigh

— Gumption cats (@Gumptioncats) November 3, 2017

And this is why we need more women on panel shows. You were superb.

— Lou ? (@lou_carr79) November 3, 2017

So, the moral of the story – men, stop belittling sexual harassment, and panel shows, maybe it’s time to include more women.

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