The Government is considering a “media bill” that would “sanction” online streaming services for broadcasting offensive jokes, a senior minister has announced.
Culture Secretary Nadine Dorries told Sky News that in the future, the law would “hold Netflix to account” over jokes deemed offensive.
It comes amid rising anger over a clip of comedian Jimmy Carr’s most recent Netflix special, in which he tells a joke about the deaths of thousands of members of the travelling community during the Holocaust.
Carr issued a "trigger warning" to the audience at the beginning of his one-hour Netflix special, His Dark Material, admitting his performance contained "terrible things".
Ms Dorries described the joke as "shocking", but said it would not be covered by the forthcoming Online Harms bill.
But she said: "Another bill that we have to come through is a media bill, which we are looking at including those 'video on demand', streaming organisations such as Netflix, we're looking at including those into the scope of that bill"
She said the Government was looking "to make the kind of comments that Jimmy Carr made ... also subject to a new law that will impose sanctions on those organisations."
The Government launched a consultation last year on whether streaming services should be regulated by Ofcom and given the same "level of protections" as traditional television.
The consultation notes any regulatory change "will need to be proportionate, to ensure freedom of expression is not undermined."
The Department for Culture Media and Sport said they were working on a response to the consultation, which would be published "in due course".
Ms Dorries said Mr Carr's comments were "abhorrent and they just shouldn't be on television", but it was put to her that in a tweet in 2017 she had claimed that "left-wing snowflakes are killing comedy".
She said: "Well, that's not comedy.
"What Jimmy Carr did last night is not comedy.
"And you know, I'm no angel on Twitter, nobody is, but I just would like to say that nothing I've ever put on Twitter has been harmful or abusive.
"But that last night... Jimmy Carr's comments, no one can call that, you know, snowflake or wokeishness, that's just... it was just appalling."
She said the comments were "shocking and abhorrent and unacceptable, not just because he was making fun on the basis of people who died in the most appalling circumstances, but on the pain and suffering of many thousands of families".
She told Times Radio: "We don't have the ability now, legally, to hold Netflix to account for streaming that but very shortly we will."
Asked on Sky News if there was any way this new law would put restrictions on free speech, she said: "No, absolutely not. We've been very, very... well because I'm a Conservative, I've been very, very careful about that."
The Traveller Movement, a charity supporting the traveller community in the UK, said: "This is truly disturbing and goes way beyond humour."
In a tweet, the charity said: "We need all your support in calling this out #StopTravellerHate StopFundingHate."
The charity has launched a petition to Netflix calling for the "removal of the segments of His Dark Material which celebrates the Romani genocide".
Not-for-profit organisation the Holocaust Memorial Day Trust shared a statement on Twitter from their chief executive Olivia Marks-Woldman who was "horrified" to hear "gales of laughter" following Carr's remarks.
The Auschwitz Memorial called for Carr to "learn about the fate of some 23 thousand Roma & Sinti deported to Auschwitz" in a tweet to their 1.2 million followers.
A representative for Carr has been contacted for comment.
