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Russell Brand and Jonathan Ross; Enemies of the State?!
Another proud moment for a UCL alumnus… As many of you may well be aware questions are currently being asked of Jonathan Ross and Russell Brand after their recent stunt involving a prank call to Andrew Sachs, better known as Manuel from Fawlty Towers. The prank involved them calling up on a number of occassions and claiming that Brand had slept with Sachs’s granddaughter, a member of the Satanic Sluts.
Undoubtedly this was a ridiculous prank and quite what Ross (A SSEES graduate) was doing I’m not too sure, particularly considering he has the highest paying contract on the BBC. The reaction however, as befitting the UK public, has been even more overblown than the prank itself. With more than 5,000 complaints received, an OFCOM inquiry and calls from the Daily Mail for both men to be sacked this has become the biggest TV scandal since Keith Chegwin stripped off for a nude game show on Channel 5 or perhaps even Chris Morris’s infamous Brass Eye episode on paedophilia.
There are few people who would get more enjoyment in seeing Brand and his bizarre hairdo dissappear from broadcasting than me but this probably isn’t the occasion or means to get rid of him. If we did get rid of him, what would that say about the rules of public broadcasting in this country?! A disciplinary order wouldn’t be out of the question and we must certainly examine how this pre-recorded incident got past the editors but I don’t feel it warrants the total end of a career.
If however the populous at large simply stop listening to that birk’s show because he’s an irritating sod at the best of times, then we could kill two birds with one stone. His ego would be dented beyond repair and a dwindling listenership with an ensuing dismissal for poor listening figures would surely put the nail in the coffin for his career.
As for Ross, he got away with asking David Cameron if he masturbated over Margaret Thatcher… I’m sure he’ll survive this one.
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October 29th, 2008 at 00:50
If we’re feeling really controversial we could talk about the future status of the BBC as what is essentially a quango at our Port & Policy debate on the 18th November.
November 2nd, 2008 at 16:36
This whole thing was just stupid, I mean I cant stand Ross, he is not funny or witty, just really crass… Its annoying that he’s still in the job when Brand quit.
I still thing this was all a bit overdone though… I fear that much admired risqué humor may end up being a thing of the past!
November 8th, 2008 at 16:38
This made the news here in Moscow and I thought it was a joke at first. I was hoping they might sack both of them for this as they both really annoy me and it’s a fairly stupid by anyone’s standards and I can’t imagine anyone ever thinking it was a sensible or logical thing to do. Sady for me Jonathan Ross is probably the most famous person to have ever gone to SSEES (my department) the rest of the alumni list is made of people who are only famous in Eastern Europe or in the Education world rather than in Mass Media.
Let’s hope in the future someone better will emerge from SSEES.