UK - Jonathan Ross & Russell Brand

[Neil]

A genuine appology on air and in person to all involved, and a fine would be plenty enough. I concur... But The Daily Mail have taken it upon themselves to protect the country and cynically do as much damage to these individuals careers as possible. 30,000 were not offended by the program. They were rounded up by a paper on a low-brow campaign... Diabolical!

[Tricky]

agreed, but I think chubby brown is a wanker and deserves death, rather like Bernard Manning... For what reason exactly? Oh and gordon browns involvement in this whole thing clearly is an attempt to divert headlines away from the fact he's financially f*cked the country & indeed the entire nations grand kids

[SymphonicX]

For what reason exactly? The disgusting racist remarks, propogating stupid rumours about ethnic groups and generally contributing to more gash in the world. He's a bigot, mysoginistic prick... When he does battle of the sexes comedy, he gets laughs... When he does racist stuff...he gets cheered.... says a lot.

[kidgloves]

This whole episode is complete nonsense and a perfect example of the media telling the public what they should be offended about. They then hammer home the point. I used to like Brand but he very quickly became a one trick pony and i could take him or leave him. Ross will always be a legend in my eyes because of his love of cult movies but recently his act has grown very tired and has turned into a chat on the sofa with his mates. I can only assume someone somewhere had it in for these two and pushed the story to its conclusion. I don't care how much Ross earns its the going rate for someone of his status within the biz and if the beeb don't pay him it, someone else will.

[Tricky]

The disgusting racist remarks, propogating stupid rumours about ethnic groups and generally contributing to more gash in the world. He's a bigot, mysoginistic prick... When he does battle of the sexes comedy, he gets laughs... When he does racist stuff...he gets cheered.... says a lot. He was getting big laughs from the people of various races who were sat in the audience which also says a lot,the black girl sat in front of me was laughing her head off through his entire routine!he tells crude jokes & sings daft songs,its been his act for 30 or more years,people who buy tickets know exactly what they are going to get.He's actually less crude than most of whats on TV post 9pm by modern standards anyway

[SymphonicX]

He was getting big laughs from the people of various races who were sat in the audience which also says a lot,the black girl sat in front of me was laughing her head off through his entire routine!he tells crude jokes & sings daft songs,its been his act for 30 or more years,people who buy tickets know exactly what they are going to get.He's actually less crude than most of whats on TV post 9pm by modern standards anyway I've heard his stuff, many times...you'll never get me to think well of this guy. Just because there was an idiot girl laughing at jokes he's making doesn't mean his stuff is needed in the world, sorry but he attracts a certain type of person which means a certain type of humour, and it's toilet stuff...no offence.... Him, Jim Davidson, Bernard Manning....ugh.

[Neil]

...sent to Ofcom:- I would like to complain about the conduct of Mark Thompson over the Brand/Ross incident, and in general with the way the BBC has handled the issue. I think that while it can be agreed that the phone call made to Andrew Sachs was regretful, both Ross & Brand issued apologies to Andrew Sachs, and these apologies were accepted. What occurred subsequently was in effect a media run witch hunt which has made scapegoats of these two well loved presenters, and has allowed Mark Thompson to hide failings in management and editorial policy behind a public lynching. There is a ground swell of support for both Ross and Brand by people who feel that the way these two have been pilloried is appalling. The BBC employed both presenters precisely because of their anarchic and irreverent style and has enjoyed significant ratings thanks to the programme’s broadcast by both. To employ such presenters requires strong editorial policy to ensure that while the best of their output is captured, incidents such as the Andrew Sachs phone call are caught editorially and not broadcast. It is beyond contempt to find that in the event of this editorial policy failing, it is the presenters themselves who are made an example of, and to find the DG capitulating to complaints made by people who are not fans of the broadcasters in question, rather than standing by the talent recruited is baffling in the extreme. As part of the your investigation I would urge you look closely at these aspects of the incident, listeners/viewers of shows by Ross & Brand are fully aware of their style of content and given the viewing figures for their programme’s, it is clear there is indeed an audience for such content. The license paying audience is extreme in its diversity and while these types of programmes may not be to everyone’s taste, there are license payers who appreciate programmes of this nature. In essence, why are license payers who do not form part of this audience being allowed to dictate the broadcast policy of the BBC via a tabloid instigated moral crusade, and yet the license payer who actually watches/listens to these programmes are silenced? I would urge you as part of your investigation to fully explore the role Mark Thompson and senior management of the BBC have played, especially with regard to support that has been voiced by license payers to the presenters in question which has clearly been ignored.

[MinionZombie]

I almost went to "Have Your Say", this BBC site where you can apparently 'have you say', but I've heard that: 1) You cannot start new threads, only suggest a new one and then a moderator chooses if it's good enough. 2) You've got a very limited amount of words to use. Geez, censorship much? Make it hard much? No doubt they've been getting tips from the bloody gubment, the sneaky pieces of crap.

[Neil]

Good read IMHO - http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisf...-russell-brand There's a documentary on Wed night on Ch5 about the whole thing - However, Max Clifford and Georgina are on it, so I fear it's a Max Clifford production... So I greatly fear for its content!

[MinionZombie]

"As his closing joke, he performs a graphic mime of sexual acts on a butterfly." Funniest. Daily Mail sentence. Ever. I think Brooker's hit it on the nose with this article, essentially saying that over-reaction to it was just that - that went too far - similar to the 'joke' that started it all (which was birthed from Ross' 'should-have-grown-up-by-now' mouth, the man should realise his age and stick to it, he's not twenty-five anymore), which did step into unnecessary territory. But I've exhausted my reasons as to why it was wrong, but I've also said that the reaction has gotten out of hand - but then I've also said that no doubt this has become an 'excuse' to bitch about the License Fee (rightly so) and to bitch about the Beeb's blatant political bias (rightly so). It's just a shame that those two issues aren't being talked about separately, rather than exerting that anger under the guise of something else. ... Also - guess who got in trouble again? Yep, Jeremy Clarkson on "Top Gear", what offended less than 200-out-of-7-million? A joke about lorry drivers murdering prostitutes.

[Neil]

Also - guess who got in trouble again? Yep, Jeremy Clarkson on "Top Gear", what offended less than 200-out-of-7-million? A joke about lorry drivers murdering prostitutes. Better hope The Daily Mail's renta-mob doesn't get their pitch forks out again, or it could be taken off the air!

[MinionZombie]

Better hope The Daily Mail's renta-mob doesn't get their pitch forks out again, or it could be taken off the air! Somehow I doubt it. Top Gear's got waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay more fans than Wossy and Bookie Wook, over a quarter of a billion world wide. Plus, it's not that crude, and he's said plenty of similar remarks that have been whinged about but forgotten - e.g. there was a fuss when he said to Hammond in 9x01 - "Are you now a mental?"