BBC officially dismiss 1300 complaints about comedian Sophie Duker joking about killing white people on Frankie Boyle show

Ms Duker had been responding to a clip of black author James Baldwin discussing the idea of black power in an interview from the 1970s.

Addressing the video in question, Ms Duker suggested the terms "black power and white power" were capitalist myths that are "so prevalent today".

She said: “Like white power is Trump Tower. When we say we want to kill whitey, we don’t really want to kill whitey,” she continued, but then quickly added “we do" and adding "not today,” eliciting laughter from fellow panel members.

She added: “Whiteness is a capitalist structure, it benefits itself. It hurts white people, it hurts non-black people, it hurts black people, but still [there's] this kind of fear of a black alternative and its these rhetorics [that are] battled against each other, these extreme capitalist rhetorics of supremacy.”

As well as the complaints to the BBC, dozens of people have complained to broadcast watchdog Ofcom.

Ms Duker caused anger in some quarters of the press with her comment and some 1,300 people amid the extensive media coverage - including Sarah Vine complaining in the Daily Mail that the comment was "putrid nonsense" that indicated support for a "hateful dogma".

TalkRadio presenter Julia Hartley-Brewer pitched in: "This is horrible. It's not just unfunny, it's incoherent nonsensical Marxist gobbledegook.

"The white contributors nodding along supportively as this woman jokes about killing people who look like them is just plain sick."

Ben Harris-Quinney, the chairman of the Bow Group, the UK’s oldest conservative think tank, who drew attention to the comments on Twitter said: "This isn’t comedy, it’s racist, Marxist, incitement to violence, at a time when exactly this type of violence is spreading across the West. "

The BBC refused to discuss the reasons for their decision.

But in a statement said: “Frankie Boyle’s New World Order was shown after 10pm and its content is within audience expectations for a post-watershed, topical, satirical programme from a comedian whose style and tone are well-established.

"Every week on the show Frankie puts forward a number of topics for debate, this episode was no different. The panellists’ comments were in response to a motion that was written and presented in line with the programme’s tone and style.

"Sophie Duker is a talented comedian and a regular panellist on Frankie Boyle’s New World Order, and we look forward to continue working with her at the BBC."

The controversy comes only a couple of weeks after Tim Davie, the incoming BBC director general vowed to tackle left-wing bias in their comedy programming, in order to restore “trust and confidence” of the public in the corporation.

The complaints about the show picked up a few days after the show aired and the comments and she says she was soon the target for online and abuse and the subject of newspaper columns.

“It became clear that if someone’s projecting bile at you, there’s probably a sickness deep inside,” Ms Duker said afterwards adding “it was a harsh wake-up call to the toxicity of the media but now I couldn’t care less."

Among those supporting Ms Duker was fellow comedian Katherine Ryan who described her as a ‘genius’.

Taking to Twitter, she penned: "Sophie Duker is a genius (and some will never *get* ironic exposition of a position) but notice the only people mad at her are also fresh off being mad about a dance."

The controversy erupted after BBC chief Tim Davie was reportedly planning to overhaul the broadcaster’s comedy shows because they are too “left wing”.

The new director-general was understood to think the corporation’s shows are seen as too one-sided and needed a radical overhaul.

Under the reported proposal, BBC programme creators were expected to find a better balance of targets on the shows, rather than just aiming jokes at the Conservatives.

Those running comedy panel shows would also be encouraged to book guests with a wider range of opinions on issues in the UK.

The BBC came under fire last year after scrapping plans to sing Rule, Britannia! and Land of Hope of Glory at the Last Night of the Proms.

The broadcaster axed the singing of the historic tunes over their perceived links to colonialism and slavery but later reversed their decision after a public outcry.

And a campaign urging viewers to cancel TV licences over the Corporation's Brexit coverageraised £60,000 in donations.

The Defund the BBC group is being led by Rebecca Ryan, who previously ran the #StandUp4Brexit campaign.

She says anger over the Beeb's Brexit coverage and recent reporting on Black Lives Matter protests - in which a demonstration where 27 London police officers were injured was called "largely peaceful" - had seen a surge in crowdfunding donations.