Dannii in clear over 'homophobic' Danyl jibe

Complaints about The X Factor episode in which Dannii Minogue made a 'homophobic' jibe about Danyl Johnson have been rejected by Ofcom.

The show, broadcast last month, saw Danyl give a performance of And I'm Telling You I'm Not Going, originally performed as a female lead vocal for the musical Dreamgirls.

In her critique, judge Dannii said the singer had given a 'true X Factor performance', but added: "If we're to believe everything we read in the papers, maybe you didn't need to change the gender reference in it?"

Fellow judge Simon Cowell said Dannii was playing 'games' and she later apologised to anyone who may have been offended saying of her comments: "They were only said with humour."

The broadcasting watchdog Ofcom said it received nearly 4,000 complaints, the majority of which were concerned that Dannii's remarks were malicious and homophobic and based on newspaper reports about Danyl's sexuality.

Danyl said in a statement that he was not offended by Dannii's comment.

Ofcom found: "In Ofcom's view, it was not outside the established nature of the programme for an X Factor judge to make such a comment as Dannii Minogue's especially in circumstances where the performer had placed information about his sexuality in the public domain ...

"Ofcom did not discern a pejorative or homophobic intent behind her comment."