An anonymous commenter felt that my original post was wide of the mark. Here is his considered opinion:
Here is my reply to Anonymous:
Meanwhile the Downs Syndrome Association have issued a statement:
By the way I note that the Downs Syndrome Association website is down at present, I wonder if they are experiencing rather a lot of hits as a result of the outrage over Richard Bacon and Doug Stanhope?
Does anyone know if Richard Bacon passed any comment or apologised for his remarks of yesterday on today's show?
'I think Stanhope is hilarious, and even more so for provoking outrage in you, which is precisely the point of the routine.
What's also hilarious is your suggestion that the BBC ia "endorsing" poking fun at children with Downs. Of course they're not, you moron.'
Here is my reply to Anonymous:
'Anon 13:18: You really are pathetic. Are you the sort of person who was offended by Bernard Manning or Jim Davison's routines? Did you find their use of humour racist and/or sexist?We'll see if and how Anonymous answers that.
Perhaps you could explain why it is 'funny' to attack Sarah Palin and her Downs Syndrome child in such a vile way? Is it just because it provokes a reaction? Is anything fair game if it provokes a reaction? Does this only apply to people on the right of politics or are left-wing figures fair game as well?'
Meanwhile the Downs Syndrome Association have issued a statement:
'DSA make official complaint following Richard Bacon's Radio 5 Live ShowSo who's right: Doug Stanhope, Richard Bacon, the BBC and Anonymous or me and The Downs Syndrome Association?
The Down’s Syndrome Association is shocked that a BBC employee has publicised the work of a comedian which is nothing more than a vile offensive rant and conflicts with BBC guidelines which state a responsibility to ‘protect the vulnerable and avoid unjustifiable offence’. During Richard Bacon’s BBC 5 show yesterday afternoon he directed listeners to a video of Doug Stanhope discussing the son of Sarah Palin on YouTube. The child was born with Down’s syndrome and Mr Stanhope’s comments about him were abhorrent.
As a public body the BBC should not be promoting the work of such an individual. Therefore the Down’s Syndrome Association has logged an official complaint with the BBC. We encourage everyone to do to the same using the link below –
https://www.bbc.co.uk/complaints/forms/'
By the way I note that the Downs Syndrome Association website is down at present, I wonder if they are experiencing rather a lot of hits as a result of the outrage over Richard Bacon and Doug Stanhope?
Does anyone know if Richard Bacon passed any comment or apologised for his remarks of yesterday on today's show?
1 comment:
Its all a bit of a mess.
Stanhope has been well known to me for years and Ithink that he is probably one of the smartest and funniest comedian to grace a stage or a comedy club since Bruce and Hicks were alive.
No-one is safe from his humour and that shows in this horrible mess that seems to of followed the radio interview.
Doug has something to say on it here http://www.dougstanhope.com/journal/2011/8/7/heres-what-happened.html
I love him and I think the piece is very funny, if you dont like it then dont watch and dont listen. With this world of instant media and the web, we can easilty ignore who we want to ignore.
If politicians dont want their family in the firing line for any criticism or mocking then either dont have any or keep them out of the limelight. What Stanhope said can be considered ugly, but Palins politics are just plain hideous, should her family have to take this sort of comment? Absolutely! Not one of them stays out of the way and they have no problem with talking to the media.
as Raoul Duke once said...
You buy the ticket, you take the ride.
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