Tony Klinger

I try not to crossover from one of my blogs or articles in one universe to the other. But I felt I had to do so on this day .

I have been commenting on the two BBC “entertainers” Russell Brand and Jonathan Ross here, there and everywhere I cannot draw a line.

Therefore, I apologize to those of you who usually read me at http://www.bcreativelimited.blogspot.com/

You could have already read a substantial part of the following article.

It is becoming clear that the BBC is now mounting a huge damage limitation and charm offensive, and this is clearly long overdue. One of the most annoying aspects of this whole matter is the huge arrogance and contempt of the BBC higher echelons towards the public who pay their wages until a scandal breaks upon these smug fiefdoms of self centered mutual mental masturbation. How can the BBC management be this out of touch with the public consensus about what is decent and acceptable and what is not?

It seems fairly obvious that Russell Brand isn’t too concerned about anything other than the publicity this storm in a teacup is generating since today, not too remorseful, he is stepping on a jet to appear in his next American movie. Both Brand and Ross are, no doubt, being advised what to say, and how to say it, by expert PR spin doctors, and that is also an unappealing aspect of this stage of the farce. They both appear to be patently insincere in their apologies, however fulsome the words. I have had many a meeting with these PR gurus in their Soho clubs, and this kind of situation is their meat and drink. The PR teams and the lawyers will be rubbing their hands in glee at the huge fees they are about to charge all concerned.

Jonathan Ross is reported to fear that he has lost his BBC career. Many years ago there was a man called  Simon Dee, and he lost his job on TV for being offensive to his bosses. Dee was the spiritual god father of this kind of presenter as a personality broadcasting. Dee thought, like Ross and Brand, that he had become bigger than the medium he inhabited. He found out, to his great cost, that this was not the case, and he never recovered professionally or personally.

I like Jonathan Ross as a presenter most of the time, particularly on the radio, where he can be very funny, but he needs to know he is not bigger than the media that allows him such fame and fortune. There is no need to be cruel to be funny. It’s time to grow up Jonathan.

We are now witnessing the ritual public humiliation of those found to affront the public taste. They are Russell Brand and Jonathan Ross, two very naughty man boys, Russell now in his thirties and Jonathan in his late forties. Their BBC paymasters suspended them, on full pay. They had broadcast a very offensive radio 2 show and it has created a tsunami of a reaction and become an even bigger issue this week than the credit crunch.

Russell Brand said, “I think it was a really, really silly thing to do. It happened in the spirit of the moment, I didn’t want to upset Andrew Sachs, particularly because I really admire him and his work as an actor. I didn’t want to apologize publicly before because it might seem I was apologizing for the reaction rather to the person I had offended. The reason I hadn’t apologized to Georgina, and I do intend to, is because I’m frankly embarrassed to do so.” It’s a great pity that Brand waited until there was a huge public revulsion before he offered a proper and fulsome apology.

Brand then resigned from his radio show. A contrite looking Brand went on to say, “ I was silly enough to speak without thinking, and I shouldn’t have done so. I apologize to Andrew Sachs for any upset I might have caused him.”

Andrew Sachs, the main offended party said, “These are two performers, I’m a performer, sometimes, you get it very wrong, and then you have to do better.” His granddaughter, Georgina, who Brand and Ross had said intimate things about said, “I’m thrilled because justice has been done.”

Ross’s Friday show recording was cancelled tonight. As Ross said, “It was juvenile and a stupid error of judgment.”

Of course something had to be done, and seen to be done. I called for the dismissal of both these men for their outrageous, illegal and obscene phone calls to the actor Andrew Sachs. I won’t recount the whole incident; you can look up my previous blog, and the millions of other articles and blogs that this controversy has generated in the last days.

Suffice it to say that the men have, apparently now realized that they have really screwed up. The BBC went into full grovel mode, with a succession of their middle and finally most senior management issuing total and self abasing apologizes.

Of course this was too little and too late. The BBC has been behind the curve on this issue throughout, which is incredible in these days of emergency preparedness for any and all contingencies. If they had dealt promptly with this unfolding problem would have been diminished to almost no significance.

As it is the number of complaints to the BBC has, so far, topped 27,000 with something like 99.5% apparently against Brand and Ross. There are also some people, almost all younger, and mostly the more youthful demographic of radio 1, who argue that these are just edgy comedians pushing at the limits of what’s acceptable as modern comedy is meant to do.

Now the BBC must hold a very fast enquiry and tell us how this pre-recorded program was allowed on air?

Russell Brand and Jonathan Ross were clearly bouncing off each other, and the safety net is supposed to be the production team.

So how was it then possible that the producer could play this material and then OK it for broadcast?

What kind of training did this producer receive?

How could the producer have made this judgment after telephoning Andrew Sachs to discuss his feelings about what was proposed, and despite Sachs asking the producer not to broadcast it?

Why were there no BBC guidelines for this scenario in place for an obviously inexperienced producer?

It’s bad enough that this kind of show could get on air, let’s make certain it doesn’t happen again. But we don’t want to throw out the baby with the bathwater. We still want comedy, and edgy is fine, but that doesn’t mean its open season on those that can’t defend themselves.