If you haven't seen or heard the clips it's probably worth taking a look at them before reading on, the links are below;
- Russell Brand and Jonathan Ross's phone calls to Andrew Sachs, who played Manuel in the hugely famous sitcom Fawlty Towers http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=zrUZ2N8x2GI
- A joke about the Queen of England on the comedy show Mock the Week http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=N_ESgHRI5HI
- An off-hand comment about lorry drivers murdering prostitutes by Jeremy Clarkson on top-gear http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=MmuobTeI3CA
Basically if you're not familiar with what's happening, these 3 clips have caused a small outrage in the UK with 10's of thousands of complaints being received by both the BBC and the regulating body OfCom. Jonathan Ross has been suspended without pay for 3 months pending investigation and Russell Brand stepped down. Other sanctions are yet unknown for the other clips.
Basically, all of these shows were signed off by the executives and lawyers at the BBC as being 'ok to be aired'. So who does the responsibility sit with?!
Surely most people in their right mind would say that the legal professionals and executives are experts in these fields and are the ones who make the final decisions as to whether or not they go on the air, so surely the buck should stop with them and they take the consequences, not punish the talent who work for the BBC for doing what they are paid to do, which is vaguely...to be funny.
When you tell comedians or presenters they could face suspension or even in some severe cases, the end of their career, simply for one misjudged joke.
It just really annoys me that, yes sometimes jokes are a little close to the mark, but when; in the case of Top Gear, less than 1000 people out of an audience of 7-8 Million people take offence, that such a drastic reaction could be adopted.
Rant over.
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