Rolf Harris is dead

I agree LadyGaGa, there are no degrees of paedophilia. It’s vile.

Blossoming

I agree LadyGaGa, there are no degrees of paedophilia. It’s vile.

It must be very hard for people born with paedophilic tendencies, but have a conscience so can never act on them. After all, sexual preferences aren’t a matter of choice.

I cannot with some of these comments

For the life of me I can't imagine why people are 'conflicted' about the death of RH.

He was certainly a popular and talented TV entertainer who was around for most of my life and I enjoyed his shows, but he was proven to be a persistent paedophile.

BlueBelle

I’m another who was so disappointed I liked the Rolf we saw I admired his artistic talents and I saw him in person at a music festival and he seemed such a personable guy but I certainly didn’t admire his other side and felt very disappointed in him

Gary Glitter Saville and others I didn’t like they all gave me the creeps Rolf Harris didn’t before I knew so I was very surprised and let down by him

I too was so disappointed about him

We meet him on a Plane once, my son who was about 7 years saw him in the que right behind us boarding the Plane, he used to watch Animal Hospital. He asked my son what happened to his front tooth (lost his baby teeth) totally charming.
On landing whilst waiting for the luggage, my son with my DH saw him, as it was taking ages. Harris drew his signature Kangaroo with his head on it and my sons Name on the Boarding pass. I missed all this as I was doing the loo run with my 3 year old daughter. I thought what a nice man. Little did we know!!
He kept that Boarding pass for years.
It went in the bin.

Opps.. Posted before I checked it.. Sorry for grammar.

It is being reported he died two weeks ago and his funeral has already taken place. Rather than think about his shows and songs I prefer to think about the fact he used them to gain access to children. There is a special place in hell for people like him

Well, I thought "Thank goodness, good riddance."
And yes, Shakespeare had the right saying for every situation, Septimia
As Shakespeare put it in Julius Caesar "The evil that men do lives after them; the good is oft interred with their bones".

Like others, I had no suspicions, unlike with creepy Saville and Paul Gadd.

So yes, I thought he was talented but everything is tainted now.

It also makes me sad that after the event people in the industry would say things like - oh yes, I always knew he was creepy/touchy feely/liked little boys/ no one liked him etc. But because he was a ‘celeb’ no one took any action.

LadyGaGa

It also makes me sad that after the event people in the industry would say things like - oh yes, I always knew he was creepy/touchy feely/liked little boys/ no one liked him etc. But because he was a ‘celeb’ no one took any action.

I don't know about Harris, but certainly in the case of Savile, people did raise their concerns about him to the powers-that-be and some even aired them very publicly, but nothing was done. He had friends in very high places, let's not forget.

And, of course, expensive lawyers @BlondieScot

Oh look, here he is with Savile

www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12116041/Final-photos-paedophile-TV-star-Rolf-Harris-Disgraced-entertainer-poses-wife.html

You don't have to act like anything to be cruel and evil, infact those that mask their real selves are often the most dangerous

Ladyleftfieldlover

Not a league table as such, but Saville had offended for nearly fifty years, mainly in plain sight. A lot of people knew. Although why he managed to get so close to Charles, who knows. Harris though, does not seem to have been so rampant.

How would you know what he got away with ?

There's another male entertainer at the moment who gives me the creeps and pushes the boundaries in plain sight. I won't name him, obviously, but my daughter and I both think he is odd.

Once I found out there was never going got be any point where I could separate his work and what he did. The very nature of his work brought continual proximity to children.

(There will be grey areas when one reviews the past, but Wagner is definitely not a one for me, he was rabidly anti semitic not just "of his time").

eazybee

I agree with you , Lady Dedlock; I remember him as a talented artist and entertainer; my daughter said, like you, he was part of her childhood and I don't believe he came anywhere near Savile or G.Glitter as a paedophile.

Just this.

1 child's life ruined is one too many.

Do people think Wagner’s life affects his music? I don’t. He was indisputably a great composer, however awful a man.

Other music choices are available

Wyllow3

Once I found out there was never going got be any point where I could separate his work and what he did. The very nature of his work brought continual proximity to children.

(There will be grey areas when one reviews the past, but Wagner is definitely not a one for me, he was rabidly anti semitic not just "of his time").

If you discard artists on grounds of antisemitism you can say goodbye to Puccini for one. As well as Chopin, Tchaikovsky and Debussy. Wagner's sins went way further than that. He was a thoroughly nasty piece of work.

If there isn't a hierarchy of sexual abuse, where would you put Eric Gill? I know, he died 14 years before I was born so he didn't affect my childhood in any way. But his victims were his own daughters (to say nothing of the dog). His statue on the facade of Broadcasting House should probably go, but what about his huge altarpiece in Westminster Cathedral? (Probably it should go too). Or more problematically, the many village war memorials he designed? What about his ubiquitous typeface, Gill Sans? It was all over British Railways until the 1970s. The BBC quietly dropped it from its materials a few years ago but should we boycott John Lewis/Waitrose until they change their corporate image?

Is there a line? And if there is, where should we draw it?

For me the line is drawn at any profit from anything they created

And also not singing or playing it to children which just gives me the horrified creeps

There is no hierarchy for paedophiles and I find this insulting to the victims. If you were the victim of Harris or Savile you are no less violated or damaged.
People may not be able to choose their sexual inclinations but they can certainly choose how they act on them .
I met both Saville and Harris . One raised the hairs on the back of my neck and the other seemed completely normal .
Maybe it's why he got away with his crimes for so long.

I did enjoy watching him paint when I was young but now I think good riddance.

I’m not conflicted . He was a vile paedophile who used his power and fame to abuse others . Exactly as Saville and glitter did . They are all as bad as each other .

I don't think anyone in the recent past has destroyed their own career and reputation as thoroughly as Rolf did. The archetypal family entertainer with his paintings and songs, and then the wonderful Animal Hospital. All gone at a stroke. Presumably he thought he was untouchable.