Jo Brand

When I heard Jo Brand making this jibe, (The BBC helpfully repeated the entire clip on the 6 o'clock news after announcing it would be removed if the show was replayed), the image that immediately sprang to mind was that of Katie Piper.

How anyone can think this sort of talk is defensible is beyond me.

What puzzles me is why Jo Brand is considered to be a comedian! Like all of the current crop of so-called "funny" people she peddles smut and outright obscenity and spends most of the time laughing or smirking at her own "jokes". A prime example of that sort of thing can be seen on Mock The Week. She said what she said with cruel intent in the full knowledge that she was inciting the loony fringe to up their game from milkshakes to life changing violemce. She should be locked up as an example to others of her ilk. Do remember that she is paid for doing what she does. She may not be paid directly by the BBC, but the BBC pays the company that makes the programme, thus the viwers licence fee is finding its way into her claws. She is not in the leasat pity funny.

Definitely not funny and not something she should have said. A case of needs to engage her brain before she speaks!

Yes deffo. I wonder how she would react if someone made a really bad mental health joke!!Double standards I think.

I am with you paddyann

It was a recorded programme and the BBC chose to leave the remark in. When I heard it I chuckled because I do have a 'black' sense of humour. Being a 'normal' person, whatever 'normal' is I didn't take it seriously. Guess I must be a 'moron'

Also it should be an offence to throw any liquid at any one. That poor veteran who got soaked with milk shake. Disgusting.

Sounds to me as though this whole Heresy programme should be axed. Now. What is the point of a programme whose sole purpose seems to be to be to carry offensiveness to new levels under the guise of the cut and thrust of repartee? Didn't the presenter pull her up?

If someone on the right had said it there would be uproar. I’ve never liked the woman since she went running to bosses at the BBC to get Carol Thatcher sacked for something she said off air.

She’s now made a half hearted apology (to save her career) and turned it into a feminist issue. According to her women are subjected to far worse ie being threatened with rape. I wonder what Katie Piper would have to say about that?

Unfortunate joke to make - there are so many others around who are so dangerous that you just can’t make ‘jokes’ like this nowadays because dangerous people can make it ‘open season’ to react to remarks like this. I think in Jo Brand’s case this was extremely thoughtless and I am quite surprised she would be so silly in these times when anything can be acted upon by crazy people.

Says its clear she quickly pulled back, realising in current times, her comment may be seen as inflammatory rather than merely a joke.

As this programme was pre-recorded, the BBC could have easily cut it out when it was broadcast.

Labaik Thu 13-Jun-19 17:49:45
I don't agree with what you have said in some of your posts, however I agree that the remarks made to Gina Miller are totally unacceptable - although it was not broadcast on a national radio programme - dear old 'Auntie BBC' .
If the BBC finds these kinds of remarks acceptable and humorous enough to broadcast, a person who makes such threats will think that that type of remark is perfectly acceptable too - where is the line drawn?

This all seems to be part of the debasing of society in general and an acceptance of the lowest common denominator, citing 'freedom of speech' as an excuse.

The so-called comedian who made so-called jokes about disabled children and was banned from one tv channel is, I believe, back on the BBC.
The man who burned an effigy of Grenfell Tower as 'a joke' has been charged with two counts of sending or causing grossly offensive material to be sent via a public communications network - he put it on FB.
It was sick, offensive and not remotely funny to the majority of people - but some found it 'funny'.

Where should the line be drawn? Is Nigel Farage fair game? Is Gina Miller fair game? Is Esther McVey fair game (John McDonnell thinks so).

People are entitled to criticise their views but surely incitement to violence, even as a joke, is wrong and just shows how low our society has become.

This was happening way before the referendum too.

We await the prosecution of the poor veteran who was soaked with milkshake.

Oh really! Make Jo Brand public enemy number one! I disliked the acid-throwing "joke" but then I dislike a lot of what currently passes for comedy. Too much venom from many comedians in my opinion.
But Jo Brand does not deserve the vitriol delivered here by some posters. The series Getting On and also Dammed showed a depth of compassion for those living on the edge that few other sitcoms/dramedies have ever managed. She is also active in many charities.
I am sure the hatred towards her expressed on Gransnet is simply because she is a Labour supporter and reflects the posters' politics more than any objective viewpoint.
Those who think spewing hatred is solely a leftist trait should look again at the extreme right and the many vile things that were cooked up by Ukip.
I really do not believe the shouters on this thread do themselves any favours - they are part of the problem that afflicts the world: too much tribalism and hatred.
By the way, I would describe myself as somewhere in the centre politically before some of the posters dismiss me as a leftist apologist!

The reason I think that throwing milkshakes is not a reasonable form of protest is that you never know what is being thrown until it hits you and a lot of the nasty things people do throw don't hurt immediately which makes them more dangerous. Then people are judged for the way they reacted when liquid or anything else was thrown at them.
People complain that politicians live in a bubble but then when they go out they get things thrown at them.
So far as the joke was concerned, I generally like Jo Brand and comedians do have to test boundaries. I wouldn't have laughed at it but wouldn't have wasted police time in investigating it either.

For me, yes, it was in bad taste. Reporting it to the Police, as someone has done, is ridiculous!

So far as the joke was concerned, I generally like Jo Brand and comedians do have to test boundaries. I wouldn't have laughed at it but wouldn't have wasted police time in investigating it either.

I agree.

Good post, moorlikeit; totally agree with everything you've said. Last night I googled 'Jo Brand charities supported' and 'Nigel Farage charities supported'; I don't think I need to say what I found...

Quite simply it was an abhorrent thing to say and definitely not funny. I'm sure I've read somewhere that she was a nurse years ago.

The program was pre recorded so if the BBC was up in arms why did they broadcast it.
Makes you wonder.

Most things Jo Brand says are in bad taste

Yes; it does make you wonder, doesn't it...

It was a nasty throwaway remark which should have been left unsaid - Jo Brand used to be good, at one time, but now she's reduced to banal game shows and using tactics like this for a cheap laugh.

She has always been very left wing and anti establishment. But that was a step too far. However all this fuss about it is only highlighting what she said. Not good.

POGS.
An excellent post. This supposed "joke" sows the seeds in the minds of certain types of people. How can anyone think this is funny, unless you have a very warped sense of humour. Imagine how the innocent people who have been victims of acid attacks must feel on hearing this.

She seems to like doing most things in bad taste, what would she say if some idiot took her up on it? Would an apology be enough? I think not! Perhaps she’d say differently if someone threw a ‘milkshake’ at her.
I agree with murreymints75...if she had a brain she’d be dangerous. She is full of her own importance.

Yes all the people who have had acid thrown at them are distraught because of some mistimed comment and all lefties are baddies and the poor old man should not have been forced to wear a yoghurt at 8 o'clock in the morning.

People will have heard Jo Brand and it will have put ideas in their heads.