ITV bleeps out Jack Whitehall’s ‘risky’ Mandelson Epstein joke at Brit Awards 2026

ITV cut Jack Whitehall’s joke about Peter Mandelson’s involvement in the Jeffrey Epstein list from the Brit Awards 2026 live broadcast.

The comedian, 37, is once more hosting the major music awards that, for the first time ever, are taking place outside of London, in Manchester.

Harry Styles put on his first stage performance in almost three years with his single Apeture from his new album, Kiss All the Time, Disco Occasionally.

Oasis icon Noel Gallagher is also attending to receive the honour of songwriter of the year, and rising stars Olivia Dean and Lola Young have scooped up major awards tonight.

At one point in the evening, Whitehall circled a table of politicians on which sat Lisa Nandy and Andy Burnham.

As he spoke, he delivered the joke: This must be the politician’s table. I wonder who else is here? I think I saw Peter Mandelson on the list. Oh no, sorry, that was another list my bad,’ as the crowd let out a combination of groans, cheers and laughs.

He quickly moved the evening along but ITV made sure to censor the risky joke from the broadcast.

It comes just days after Mandelson, whose name appears in the Epstein files, was arrested on suspicion of misconduct in public office and later released on bail.

He was accused of passing on information to paedophile financier Epstein when he was business secretary.

What else was bleeped including Noel Gallagher’s speech?

Noel, who accepted his songwriter of the year award by first thanking his brother, Liam, was also hit with a bleeping out at the end of his speech where he said: ‘Up the f**ing Blues’ in support of Manchester City.

Earlier that evening, the Bad Education star had joked about having the ‘best in the business’ here tonight to bleep out any swearing, before quipping it was the guy ‘from the Baftas’.

The joke was a pointed nod to the controversy that has embroiled the Bafta film awards for the past week after the BBC failed to bleep out Tourette’s campaigner John Davidson’s N-word outburst from the delayed broadcast.

Whitehall’s Mandelson joke was not the only moment cut from the broadcast for viewers at home. Geese, who won international group of the year also got bleeped out while accepting the award.

Their speech entirely consisted of the phrase: ‘Free Palestine, f**k ICE’.

The decision to bleep the speech comes after the BBC came under fire for cutting My Father’s Shadow director Akinola Davies Jr’s speech in which he called to ‘Free Palestine’.

At another point, Luke Littler and Angry Ginge declared ‘London is a s**thole’, which also didn’t make the final cut.

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