The BBC – that is, the British Broadcasting Corporation – can’t seem to keep themselves out of trouble. What have they done wrong now? Well, let me tell you. But before I do that, let’s look at the case of Jay Blades. You know Jay Blades, that lovely amiable character who fronts that national ‘weepie’ The Repair Shop? Yes. Well, he is charged with coercive and controlling behaviour towards his wife and is due to appear in court on domestic abuse charges.
The BBC, in its perceived wisdom, dropped Blades from their schedule in every likkle thing he appears in, quick-quick. Those with a keen eye even noticed that there was a clumsy edit in the latest episode of The Repair Shop, so desperate the BBC was to erase all traces of their once prized puppy – heck, he even had shows lined up with national treasure Dame Judi Dench, which was hastily scrapped. It’s like they took a rubber to him.
Now, I have a huge problem with domestic abuse and its abusers and, as I have written about before on this platform, I say the law should find and throw the heaviest book at them when they are convicted. But in this case, Jay Blades is not convicted. Not yet. And we don’t know if he ever will be over these charges. So, it does trouble me a little bit that the great British Broadcasting Corporation is treating him this way. Jay Blades, by the way, is Black.
Enter Mrs Brown’s Boys and, more specifically, Mrs Brown’s alter ego Brendan O’Carroll. Hey up – trouble at mill! During a reading of the script for the Christmas special, Brendan O’Carroll, in character as the foul-mouthed Irish Agnes Brown, said ‘I don’t call a spade a spade, I call a spade a…’. He then started to say the N-word but one of the co-stars interrupted him. All this occurred in front of actors and production staff at the rehearsal.
Those who witnessed the remark at the read-through were said to be ‘shocked’ by the slur and so upset that a junior member of the production team quit in disgust. Disgust, yes. Disgusting? Quite. And Brendan O’Carroll’s defence? He didn’t actually ‘say or was about to say the N-word. It was implied.’ That’s alright then, is it? He was clearly making a joke as his wont. And why would he want to imply such a word and make it out to be a joke? The joke on who? None of which is funny. And why would he have written that in his script in the first place?
I tell you why. He knew, being a prized star of the British Broadcasting Corporation – a white prized star of the British Broadcasting Corporation – he could get away with such crude and offensive behaviour. Who was going to stop him? The BBC, who has not acknowledged the severity of the offensive slur, who’s only statement on the matter is ‘…the BBC is against all forms of racism and we have robust processes in place should issues ever arise.’
An issue arose. An issue which shocked and offended those who witnessed it. So, what’s the ‘robust process’ that’s being used to deal with Brendan O’Carroll? I’ll tell ya. Zilch. Nada. The rehearsal continued for Brendan O’Carroll’s Mrs Brown’s Boys Christmas specials as if nothing had happened. Not even the proverbial ‘slap on the wrist’. I tell you what, if crude and offensive words were uttered or implied in the company of those of the LGBTQ+ community, heads would roll. Faster than you can say‘wha gwaan?’
