I was listening to the Five Live phone in yesterday afternoon and the topic of discussion was the 75 complaints received by the BBC in relation to comments made about Olympic gold medalist Rebecca Adlington on the Mock the Week programme. The comments were made by comedian Frankie Boyle, who basically re-hashed an old joke to make fun of the way she looks. I don’t watch Mock the Week, mainly because I can’t stand Frankie Boyle, so I didn’t see the show in question, but of those that did, 75 chose to complain to the BBC. Would those same people have made a complaint if the joke was directed at Prince Charles or Cherie Blair? I suspect not, because I constantly hear disgraceful and disrespecful jibes, directed at the royal family and others, aired on national TV. This should come as no surprise in today’s hypocrisy ridden society though. Rebecca Adlington is currently loved by the nation for her swimming prowess, so it’s understandable that complaints should surface.
Frankly, I agree with the people that complained. It’s one thing to ridicule some sort of celebrity figure for a job they’ve done or some sort of media bungle, but it’s quite another to be just plain rude about another person’s appearance. We wouldn’t accept it in our workplaces. We wouldn’t accept it on the street. We certainly wouldn’t tolerate it from our children at school. So, why does it become acceptable to abuse somebody if it’s done on TV and in the name of comedy?
A number of people called the Five Live phone in and made the point that the programme is called “Mock the Week” and as Rebecca Adlington was in the news that week, she was fair game for Frankie Boyle. I’m sorry, but I just don’t understand that. “Mock the Week” is not the same as “Mock the Way Somebody Looks”. Her achievements and press coverage would certainly have been “fair game” for the show, but why do we need to cross the line into personal abuse in the name of a cheap laugh?
Other callers expressed the view that people can choose to not watch the programme and therefore have no right to get upset. Well, I don’t watch the programme, but I have every right to get upset, because I am forced to pay towards the production of the programme in my TV license fee. As a small portion of my money is invested in every show the BBC produces, I and every other license fee payer has the right to object.
Just as in the Ross/Brand incident, the comments were allowed through by the editing team, and one could argue that it is them that have really failed us. People say stupid and offensive things all the time (especially true of Mr Boyle), and the editing team should be working to ensure that lines are not crossed.
I enjoy a good joke, but this just isn’t funny. Just because an individual is famous does not preclude them from feeling hurt when they are personally abused. Of course, the daft thing in all of this is that the media coverage has expanded the unpleasantness way beyond the comparatively small demographic that actually watch the show, and Rebecca herself would never have known about it had the media not jumped on an opportunity to revel in the degradation of decent society.
Welcome to modern Britain.
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