All entries for Tuesday 04 November 2008

Ross, Brand…. Clarkson?

Writing about web page http://newsvote.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/7707641.stm

So Jeremy Clarkson has made an (arguably) offensive joke  about an entire profession on prime time TV and generated 188 complains within two days of broadcast.

The recent exploits of Messieurs Brand and Ross were (sort of) aimed at two people, generated two complaints immediately following broadcast^* and resulted in Ross being suspended for three months and Brand and the controller of BBC 2 both resigning. Based on initial complaints alone, Clarkson's offence is 94 times worse. So I expect the swift resignation of BBC Director General Mark Thompson, Clarkson, the entire Top Gear production team, Hamster and Captain Slow because they were near by at the time the joke was made, and the destruction of the master tapes for all previous and as yet unbroadcast episodes of Top Gear and any other show in which Clarkson has appeared on the BBC.

^*Rising to over 30000 once the Daily Mail got hold it and whipped up a media frenzy allowing people who had never listened to Brand's radio show to complain. A frenzy which if anything merely exasperated the initial incident by making sure the entire nation, rather than the relatively small number who listen to Brand's show or podcast thereof, knew what Andrew Sach's granddaughter had been up to and ensuring that he was harassed by hordes of reporters regarding it.

Mike Willis : 04 Nov 2008 12:59 |  Comments (1) |  Close comments |  Report a problem