Jo Brand calls out all-male panel for joking about sexual harassment

The comedian was hosting the BBC panel show Have I Got News For You, when focus turned to the current harassment scandal plaguing British politics.

The scandal - which has already claimed defense secretary Michael Fallon, forced to resign after admitting he'd made inappropriate advances towards a female journalist in 2002 - emerged off the back of the Harvey Weinstein-inspired #MeToo movement, which saw women online exposing the harassment they've faced from men in the workplace.

It has centred on a "dirty dossier" making the rounds on social media and among journalists, highlighting countless Westminster names accused of various forms of sexual misconduct, ranging from allegations of assault and harassment to inappropriate consensual relationships.

The show's panel joked about a recent article on the scandal headlined, 'Tory MP takes his personal trainer to the cinema'.

"Some of this is not high-level crime, is it?" quipped show regular, journalist Ian Hislop.

Brand quickly stepped in to address the brusque comment.

"Can I just say, as the only representative of the female gender here today, it doesn't have to be high level for women to feel under siege in somewhere like the House of Commons," she told the panel.

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

The studio audience broke into loud applause following the address, and Brand earned praise across social media for correcting the male panellists' offhand dismissal of the issue.

"Thank f--- for Jo Brand, or it would've been a bunch of blokes minimising, normalising and laughing at sexual harassment," one viral comment read.

"Well said, Jo Brand. I don't think men will ever understand the build up of their 'low level' crimes against women," another added.

Broadcaster BBC were also criticised for having only one woman on the panel to discuss the scandal - a fact Hislop acknowledged following Brand's comments.

"As you point out, with four blokes sitting around you, we're hardly in a position to say, 'That's rubbish'," he said.