Anybody allowing Russell Brand and Jonathan Ross in the same room together must have known that something outrageous would happen.
Some people like outrageous things, which is fine. If anyone has the right to be pissed off, it's Andrew Sachs, whose voicemail was the subject of some rather ripe messages suggesting all sorts may have happened between Brand and Sachs' granddaughter, and, of course, the granddaughter herself if she was unaware of what was going to happen.
What's interesting is that the programme itself generated only 2 complaints. The thousands that followed came after the Mail ran the story.
There's probably a good chance that very few of these thousands of people actually listened to the programme.
Cameron and Brown have jumped on the Daily Mail bandwagon, which is predictable but disappointing.
I would rather be personally be made to listen to an outrage by Brand and Ross every day for a year, even though I really don't have much time for either of them, than have to endure the sanctimony of Brown and Cameron.
It's just a shame that this is taking up so much of top politicians' time. Even if there wasn't a global economic meltdown, there would still be the idea of world peace and ending hunger and poverty to get their teeth into. Priorities, people....
Update after watching the Ten O'Clock News - aren't the BBC craven for buckling so completely to the Daily Mail lobby?
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5 comments:
"If anyone has the right to be pissed off, it's Andrew Sachs"
I got the impression he is/was pissed off.
You have valid points about priorities and politicians jumping on the bandwagon but ignoring this thoroughly nasty episode would allow this pair of parasites to get clean away with it. And maybe do it again at a later date.
Anon, I think it would be worse for any broadcaster or artist to self censor to avoid upsetting people.
Bernard, great minds and all that -and the more people putting the liberal point of view the better:-)
"Anon, I think it would be worse for any broadcaster or artist to self censor to avoid upsetting people."
In situations where there is an important issue at stake I would agree with you - however in this case we are dealing with pointless gratuitous offence.
Furthermore, given the fact that 4 calls were made it amounts to a form of bullying in my view. We worry enough about children being bullied - it isn't any more accceptable when any other age group is involved.
Anon, how do you define pointless gratuitous offence and an "important issue"? These could be different things to different people. Some people might think that it is offensive to have a gay couple appear on a chat show or a game show. Should their prejudices be tolerated.
I thought this stunt was particularly ill advised, but it's not the end of the world that it was done.
Lucy, I think that their suspension is completely out of proportion and will ultimately fuel their popularity.
There seems to be a real generational split in the condemnation too - most young people I've spoken to either couldn't care or think the world has gone mad, whilst those in their 50s plus think that Brand and Ross should be sacked.
They are turning into an even cooler pair of idiots now.....
"Anon, how do you define pointless gratuitous offence and an "important issue"?"
No useful purpose was served by leaving those offensive messages on Andrew Sach's answerphone.
"Some people might think that it is offensive to have a gay couple appear on a chat show or a game show. Should their prejudices be tolerated."
Go ahead with the show. Those who might be offended by it have the option of turning it off or changing channels.
I'm a supporter of public service broadcasting and the license fee but accept that I might not find absolutely everything the Beeb transmits to my taste. So if offended I would turn it off. One person who gets the instant switch-off treatment from me is Jonathan Ross.
However these morons invaded Andrew Sachs's space to leave those messages. The off-switch analogy doesn't apply - he's entitled to expect people leaving messages on his answerphone to be polite.
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