Loath as I am – and it’s very, very loath – to defend Russell Brand and Jonathan Ross, my inner liberal forces me to consider all sides of the argument. To wit:
- the offending broadcast went out on a late night show when 2.5 people were listening. Those 2.5, being presumably regular Brand listeners, knew exactly the kind of thing they were likely to be hearing and so their protests can be taken about as seriously as those who watched the sex on Teen Big Brother frame-by-frame before firing off letters of outrage to Channel 4.
- the aggrieved granddaughter belongs to a group called Satanic Sluts, which rather ups the stakes in trying to prove despoiled innocence.
- the show was pre-recorded, so while Ross and Brand were doing exactly what everyone expected of them – going for the lowest common humour denominator rather than use their genuine talent to do something clever and original – somewhere there is a producer or editor whose good judgement failed quite catastrophically.
On the other hand, two overpaid twonks are off the air. Result.
And now the politicians are jumping on the bandwagon. Oh dear. Don’t they have better things to do, like restore trust in the banking system that underpins the fabric of our existence? Of course, if the offending twosome are to be truly and utterly screwed it just needs Gordon and/or David to express complete faith in them and promise their full support. That’s always the kiss of death to any political career.
I’m also delighted that the granddaughter is called Georgina Baillie as it gives me the chance to play this. Seventies cheesefest or francophobe paean to adolescent incestuous longings? You decide.