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AIBU

Are the broadcasting corporations encouraging smut and innuendo?

(75 Posts)
Sago Sun 01-Dec-24 11:37:52

We are all very aware of Greg Wallace and the recent allegations.

It did however get me thinking of two particular famous TV incidents
(there are many more examples).

The first was the totally cringeworthy moment when Mary Berry asked the then Duchess of Cambridge if she would like to”a little squirt” on top.
The second is Dame Pru Leiths famous “ two holes” comments.

Imagine if Greg Wallace or Paul Hollywood had made these comments, it in my opinion it is wrong that women can get away with this and not men.

Also the BBC etc are clearly encouraging this smut and innuendo, in my humble opinion it is unnecessary and embarrassing, good TV shouldn’t need to do this.

AIBU?

vampirequeen Sun 01-Dec-24 20:05:33

Smut and innuendo have always been part of British humour. Look around ancient cathedrals, minsters and churches and you've even see it there. My local minster has pews from the middle ages. Each of the ends are decorated with faces, animals, grotesques and, in one case, a man mooning showing a lovely round bum and looking back towards the viewer with a grin on his face.

Gregg Wallace used his power position to humiliate and embarrass women who felt they couldn't speak out at that time. This is straight forward bullying and bears no resemblance to British smut and innuendo humour.

Allira Sun 01-Dec-24 20:14:32

Gregg Wallace used his power position to humiliate and embarrass women who felt they couldn't speak out at that time. This is straight forward bullying and bears no resemblance to British smut and innuendo humour.
👏👏👏

RosiesMaw2 Sun 01-Dec-24 20:18:58

Jaxjacky

A totally sanitised world where every word was analysed would be incredibly boring.
No Sago I don’t think the BBC or any other MSM broadcaster are encouraging it, your ‘smut’ would probably be my good laugh and I’m very grateful for friends and family who think the same.

Hear, hear.
I think it is a very big jump from Mary Berry and Prue Leith to peddling smut and innuendo
Nor do I think Greg Wallace’s outrageous and unacceptable comments have anything to do with innuendo

Allira Sun 01-Dec-24 20:23:03

RosiesMaw2

Jaxjacky

A totally sanitised world where every word was analysed would be incredibly boring.
No Sago I don’t think the BBC or any other MSM broadcaster are encouraging it, your ‘smut’ would probably be my good laugh and I’m very grateful for friends and family who think the same.

Hear, hear.
I think it is a very big jump from Mary Berry and Prue Leith to peddling smut and innuendo
Nor do I think Greg Wallace’s outrageous and unacceptable comments have anything to do with innuendo

"Ooh, Mary, you are awful - but I like you!"

petra Sun 01-Dec-24 20:30:31

Allira
Huge Jampton. It’s from cockney riming slang. Hampton Wick which was shortened to Dick

Allira Sun 01-Dec-24 20:35:38

petra

Allira
Huge Jampton. It’s from cockney riming slang. Hampton Wick which was shortened to Dick

Oh goodness! I lived practically next door to Hampton Wick and never heard that.

Sago Sun 01-Dec-24 20:55:02

Allira

The problem is that it's not possible to make a straightforward innocent statement such as the ones Mary Berry and Prue Leith made without someone reading more into it.

It wasn’t innocent though, it was a deliberate innuendo.

Allira Sun 01-Dec-24 21:07:03

So what we are supposed to be debating is the difference between innuendo and downright sleaze and sexist remarks designed to make women feel uncomfortable?

Allira Sun 01-Dec-24 21:11:29

I would say innuendo is in the mind of whoever hears it as to how it is interpreted which is quite different from blatant sexist remarks designed to make another person feel uncomfortable.

Elegran Mon 02-Dec-24 06:01:04

Exactly what I was saying, Allira . Using innuendo is an in-joke like mentioning Littlehampton (see Petra Sun 01-Dec-24 20:30:31) in the context of someone who is less than macho, to people who wil get the reference. There is an element of creativity to it, however small an element it is in some cases.

However, smut is sexual language used naked, without any effort to make it funny or witty, used to deliberately shock as a schoolboy way of an adolescent trying to look like a "man of the world" Being told to grow up is probably the best reply.

What Gregg Wallace has been accused of is using sexual language against women to bully them, as a verbal sexual attack. Maybe it was done as a way to show his stage dominance, to upstage them and inhibit them into performing less well and thus make him seen the better presenter, or maybe it had a sexual motive and was a substitute for physical groping. He should have been junped on (no innuendo) at the start and not allowed to continue.

mum2three Mon 02-Dec-24 06:04:50

Consider all the Carry On films....they were full of smutty remarks. However, there was never anything personal about them. There's the difference.

David49 Mon 02-Dec-24 06:50:08

mum2three

Consider all the Carry On films....they were full of smutty remarks. However, there was never anything personal about them. There's the difference.

Not to mention Are you being Served, Larry Grayson, Frankie Howerd, Benny Hill, Allo Allo and more recently Dame Edna.
All comedy and you got what you expected.

Primrose53 Mon 02-Dec-24 08:30:27

never mind smutty remarks, I think the BBC should crack down on people they allow to be on their Channel, like Jo Brand. She was never reprimanded or sacked for saying that she wished battery acid had been thrown over Nigel Farage instead of milkshake!

That was the most disgusting and terrible thing a person could say about another, whether you like them or not. She is a big unfunny blabbermouth who should consider herself very fortunate to be allowed on TV fullstop. Surely she has seen the terrible injuries inflicted on people from battery acid.

orly Mon 02-Dec-24 12:29:53

Both hosts of QI regularly injected homosexual innuendo into their show presentation and some of it can be funny and some gives me the ick especially when it's accompanied by a puerile smugness. I could name several others who do the same but it seems that certain sections of society can get away with it.

Nanny27 Mon 02-Dec-24 12:36:54

Still referring to Bake off I was really saddened to hear Alison Hammond saying that she found it hard to say the word Breasts without laughing. She repeated her 'joke' a little later just to underline it.
I really thought we had moved on from things like that.
You can't compare Bake off with Carry On films.

knspol Mon 02-Dec-24 12:48:36

I think a lot of this could be stopped if women just stood up for themselves and told the perpetrators their language was unacceptable and would not be tolerated. Not always easy I agree but if somebody like Kirsty Wark can't stand up for herself and deliver an appropriate put down to the likes of Wallace then it's a poor indication of women today.

Daffonanna Mon 02-Dec-24 13:04:14

None of it is done to amuse anyone else , it’s just smutty immature and boring . I began listening to the new R4 Friday 6.30 comedy programme to see how it compared to Dead Ringers . Two minutes in we had a puerile joke about Jeremy Vine’s genitals . I couldn’t be bothered to listen to more so switched off . Could have been brilliant after that I’ve no idea .

Allira Mon 02-Dec-24 14:34:55

Sago

Allira

The problem is that it's not possible to make a straightforward innocent statement such as the ones Mary Berry and Prue Leith made without someone reading more into it.

It wasn’t innocent though, it was a deliberate innuendo.

Apparently not.

Wyllow3 Mon 02-Dec-24 14:53:25

Primrose53

never mind smutty remarks, I think the BBC should crack down on people they allow to be on their Channel, like Jo Brand. She was never reprimanded or sacked for saying that she wished battery acid had been thrown over Nigel Farage instead of milkshake!

That was the most disgusting and terrible thing a person could say about another, whether you like them or not. She is a big unfunny blabbermouth who should consider herself very fortunate to be allowed on TV fullstop. Surely she has seen the terrible injuries inflicted on people from battery acid.

Jo Brand appears on many different channels and has for years.
BBC bashing for the sake of it. As to what she said, its a police matter?

GrauntyHelen Mon 02-Dec-24 15:29:20

I very much doubt Mary or Prue have simulated sex acts or run around topless or naked bar a sock which are just two of the other allegations made against Wallace .

Momac55 Mon 02-Dec-24 15:30:21

She is absolutely vile

Momac55 Mon 02-Dec-24 15:31:26

Margoyles is vile

Allsorts Mon 02-Dec-24 15:54:27

Mary Berry and Pru Leith were not being sexually offensive. he was if these people are not lying, he used his position to try to degrade women. If a woman does it, call them out too. It was rife when i started work in the dark ages but I never let them get away with it, call them out if they start say there and then even if on camera I find you deeply offensive will you please be professional and stop. Can’t understand the women waiting years to complain no wonder it goes unchecked.

Nonnato2 Mon 02-Dec-24 16:08:09

Primrose53

never mind smutty remarks, I think the BBC should crack down on people they allow to be on their Channel, like Jo Brand. She was never reprimanded or sacked for saying that she wished battery acid had been thrown over Nigel Farage instead of milkshake!

That was the most disgusting and terrible thing a person could say about another, whether you like them or not. She is a big unfunny blabbermouth who should consider herself very fortunate to be allowed on TV fullstop. Surely she has seen the terrible injuries inflicted on people from battery acid.

Completely agree she’s vile. What do you expect from a left leaning biased BBC. Corrupt and home of pedophiles. The list is endless. They should be defunded. They are a disgrace.

Dinahmo Mon 02-Dec-24 16:21:39

Most programmes, as has been said above, are made by external production companies. Masterchef was made by a company called Banijay UK.

Wolf Hall was a co-production with 2 external companies plus the BBC.

Can you imagine the outcry if the Beeb employed 100s of staff just to watch tv programmes for offensive material - the cost would be enormous.