BlackMan Time

With hindsight I feel I was too trigger happy to shoot down Russell Brand and Jonathan Ross for their part as comedians in the so-called Sachsgate affair.

It is right that comedians, entertainers, actors and artists can (and should) push the borders of popular taste as far to the edge as they can. It’s really up to the prevailing authorities to judge when such tastes in decency, for example, have been breached or compromised.

In the BBC’s case it failed to stop offensive material from being broadcast despite being advised and forewarned by one of the presenters, Jonathan Ross, about the possibility. The BBC chose to ignore this flag! Then it proceeded to act in a pompous way to suspend Brand and Ross only to save face.

The BBC is hypocritical and while it is a highly creative, respected corporation, it is very poor in enforcing its own standards. If such an august institution cannot maintain its own standards, then it is doomed to lose the right to claim tax payers’ money to fund its operation.

Actually, such a development may well be a very good thing…