Interest in the controversy caused by Russell Brand and Jonathan Ross, the two so-called comedians who left obscene messages on the answerphone of Faulty Towers actor, 78-year old Andrew Sachs, has been immense judging by the huge number of references to it on the Internet, and certainly by the amount of hits to my own piece on it yesterday.
There is a strong possibility that the BBC will be prosecuted over the affair, not because they were the ones who carried it out, but because they are complicit in it by virtue of their sanctioning the broadcast of this obscenity. I sincerely hope that they are prosecuted, for this will let them know that even if there are individuals within the BBC who consider this type of filth to be humorous, that does not make it acceptable.
As for Brand and Ross, --- well, personally speaking I fail to see even a smidgen of real humour in either of them, finding them both somewhat puerile. In fact, to refer to either of them as having 'schoolboy' humour even, would be to elevate them to a description beyond their worth.
As I pointed out in yesterday's post, as BBC licence payers we are responsible in part for the employment of anyone working for the BBC, whether executive or performer, and I, for one, do not wish to my money squandered on trash like this. What has exacerbated the whole issue is that, far from condemning these two vacuous individuals for their behaviour the BBC has said that it is 'standing by them', thereby compounding their complicity in the matter. What makes the matter even more repugnant is that, reportedly, Andrew Sachs was approached prior to the broadcast and asked whether he was offended by the pre-recorded segment, to which, naturally, he replied that he was. However, the BBC decided to ride roughshod over his feelings and air it anyway. How thoughtful of them!!!
Yesterday the BBC claimed that they had not processed any complaints from Andrew Sachs, despite the fact that not only had he told them that he considered the segment offensive prior to it being broadcast, but also that a formal email of complaint was sent to the Radio 2 controller, Lesley Douglas, on Thursday. The BBC has admitted that they had received 69 complaints up to yesterday, though I doubt if that concerns them in any way whatsoever, as they seem to opt for anything that is offensive in preference.
I believe that it is time for change to take place --- time to be rid of infantile comment and behaviour that is passed off as humour --- time to start a clean-up that will reach out with the statement that we seek to make things better in our world and not worse. Starting with this incident, I suggest, as strongly as I am able, that not only are the contracts of both Ross and Brand torn up and thrown in the trash, but also that the BBC executives and staff members who happily sanctioned this debacle are thrown out with them.
I repeat what I said yesterday, for the benefit of the BBC hierarchy:
It's time to put the trash out!
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