Star stuns TV audience with risqué Prince Andrew joke

Actress and producer Elizabeth Banks has raised eyebrows with a shocking joke about the Prince Andrew scandal on British TV.

The Charlie’s Angel director and producer of the Pitch Perfect series was appearing on The Graham Norton show to promote the film when she was prompted to drop the scandalous comment after Graham surprised her with a hilarious throwback photo.

The snap of a teenage Elizabeth showed the star in her 80’s glory rocking a tightly curled hairdo complete with a white polo and brown lipstick.

Poking fun at the shocked actress, the TV host questioned a hovering hand in the background of the photo.

“That’s Marge Simpson hair... I’ve only just noticed this hand, is it someone saying, 'you’ll regret this photograph'?” he teased.

The actress shot back that the hand was actually that of Prince Andrew, infamously caught up in a scandal involving allegations of sex with an underage woman who shared a photo of the pair taken in Jeffery Epstein’s girlfriend’s apartment.

Prince Andrew has denied the allegations and claimed the photograph was photoshopped.

Fellow guest Kylie Minogue audibly gasped at the gag, and even comedian Ricky Gervais was shocked.

“Oh God, Jesus,” Ricky said, while Graham joked it was just ‘photoshop’.

Twitter reacts to royal joke

Twitter lit up in response to the gag, with most praising the star’s reference to the explosive scandal.

“I'm a bit in love with Elizabeth Banks after watching her on this week's Graham Norton show,” one fan wrote.

“Elizabeth Banks was absolutely hilarious on Graham Norton tonight. What a brilliant sense of humour,” another agreed.

“Dear Elizabeth Banks that’s Prince Andrew’s hand” has both brightened my day and hurt my belly from laughing. You’re magic,” another shared.

A string of scandals

Among the most heinous allegations against the prince is that he had sex with Virginia Roberts on several occasions in 2001 when she was just 17 years old.

Ms Roberts has alleged she and Prince Andrew dined together and went to a nightclub in London before the first time they allegedly had sex.

However, Prince Andrew has ‘categorically’ denied having sex with Ms Roberts who alleges they had sex on three occasions.

"I can absolutely categorically tell you it never happened," the Duke of York said.

"I've said consistently and frequently that we never had any sort of sexual contact whatever.

"I have no recollection of ever meeting this lady, none whatsoever.”

The Prince officially addressed the rumours in a televised interview with the BBC last week.

The Saturday night encounter with BBC presenter Emily Maitlis was branded ‘disastrous’ as the Duke of York opened up about his friendship with convicted paedophile, Jeffrey Epstein.

The fallout from the interview has included the Duke being stood down from royal duties, and having his 60th birthday party cancelled.

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