October 29
BBC suspends Russell Brand and Jonathan Ross after Sachs stunt
posted by Laura Snook, head of news. Last updated: 11am, Thursday October 30
What's happening:
The BBC has suspended Radio 2 presenters
Jonathan Ross and
Russell Brand* for leaving crude messages on the answer phone of 78-year-old actor Andrew Sachs, who played Manuel in Fawlty Towers.
The stunt has, so far, prompted more than 18,000 complaints from BBC licence payers.
What people are saying:
The presenters joked on air that Brand had slept with Sachs’ 23-year-old granddaughter, Georgina Baillie, and said the actor might kill himself after hearing their messages. Baillie, who has admitted she was Brand’s lover in the past, said
in an interview with The Sun: “What’s funny about humiliating a lovely old man who has never harmed anyone in his life?” The public outcry also prompted
Prime Minister Gordon Brown to respond, calling the pair’s behaviour “inappropriate and unacceptable.”
Why we should give a damn:
“It seems that things go too far on TV and radio, so I would certainly say that something needs to be done before the world goes to the dogs,” Sachs himself has said in media interviews about the controversy – a view shared by Conservative culture spokesman, Jeremy Hunt, who said the incident “could encourage anti-social behaviour.”
The Guardian’s Laurence Howarth counters, arguing that not everyone who complains actually knows what they’re talking about.
What do you make of the row?
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