TV programme tonight by Katie Price about the Fr(w)ankie Boyle incident, and disabled children's battles, 9pm Sky living

[sickofsocalledexperts]

There is a documentary on tonight abou Katie Price's fight with Wankie Boyle and Channel 4 after their hideous "joke" about her blind, autistic son Harvey. Sky Living at 9pm.

[brandy77]

gutted i cant get sky a mum i met in GOSH is on the show tonight as her son goes to the same school as harvey

[signandsmile]

also article in the Daily hate mail. (didn't buy it, just read it at mother in laws). article quite good tho...

[anniebear]

I enjoyed watching, she came across really well

[BakeliteBelle]

Good for her. Shocking crap about her publicity seeking on the AIBU of course. Disgusting that Channel 4 and Boyle don't apologise at the very least.

[keepingupwiththejoneses]

I thought both the programme and the article in the paper where great. Not so great is the reaction to the article on the AIBU board.
I agree about her not hiding him away as it would be like she was ashamed of harvey. Good on her I say.

[Sandhills]

Really glad Katie did the programme, she showed a side of being a parent of a child with special needs. Comedian is low life in my opinion - not only because child had special needs, a joke like that about any child would be sick.

[unpa1dcar3r]

Excellent programme. Well done to Katie for highlighting these issues we all face. She's used her fame to the good and I applaud her. Actually I just wrote a letter to her to thank her and to keep the fight up for all of us mums n dads of sen kids.
That so called comediant went completely off my radar when he made those jokes. Liked him before that. He's a twat and a vile ugly bully and also I think rather perverted talking about a child like that. Uuuurgh.

[appropriatelytrained]

I also thought the female comedian who was trying to make excuses for Boyle as pathetic and made no sense at all.

Who cares if he thinks he is using shock tactics? For what end? Freedom of speech can also be qualified by its impact on community interests. That is why we don't allow people to abuse others on the basis of race or gender.

Would that silly little comedian have thought it was acceptable if Boyle had used racism to shock? No.

That's the trouble with this brand of comedy (Jimmy Carr included with all his 'pikey' or 'retard' crap). They talk about 'pushing back boundaries' etc and they're not. They're villiifying the vulnerable.

If you wanted to really push the boundaries - hit out at the establishment and the powerful. Not those in need of protection.

It isn't clever and challenging comedy, it's pathetic little self-obsessed middle class men leading self-indulgent lives encouraging the lowest common denominator to laugh with them at minorities so they can fill out provincial theatres and make a fast buck.

Beneath contempt.

Good for you Katie. Harvey looks like he's made fantastic progress. Well done!

[Triggles]

Yes, after reading the AIBU thread, I am horrified. I cannot believe some of the comments on there. It's devastating to think that some people feel that it's okay to make those types of jokes. Again, it's the old "of course it'd be different if it was racist".... apparently minorities are people, but those who are disabled are not.

It just makes me despair about the world we live in. How can people believe that? And to act like it's acceptable simply because of who his mother is... so apparently you are only allowed to be offended by comments regarding a disabled child if you, as the child's parent, are beyond reproach.

It's just like a rape victim being judged by their attire and activities prior to the assault... if you've made mistakes, you're on trial, not the offender. How unbelievably wrong!

[Davros]

Whatever else she is/does, I have always admired and supported KP on MN in relation to Harvey and as a mum. I have taped the programme and I normally avoid these things.
Very good post appropriatelytrained.

[Ben10isthespawnofthedevil]

I'm watching this now as I sky plussed it.

It feels as if it has invited me into the lives of some of you who have children with these sort of disabilities and given me much more insight of the day to day difficulties.

Really good programme and lots of respect to you guys.

[sickofsocalledexperts]

I think Frankie Boyle is just the Jim Davidson for our era, with unacceptable disabilist jokes rather than Davidson's "chalky nig nog" unacceptable racist jokes.

Hopefully we will look back on Frankie like we do on Jim Davidson one day, as a dinosaur from a lost age. We need to make taking the piss out of someone because of the disabilty they have just as socially verboten as taking the piss out of someone for the colour of their skin.

I think Katie Price made a really good program, and Twitter went wild afterwards with thousands of people tweeting "makefrankieboyelapologise"

[pigletmania]

What is the programme called, can you get it on you tube

[BakeliteBelle]

shocking that Frankie Boyle attracts young, educated audiences and broadcasters like Channel 4. We are up against so much

[BakeliteBelle]

He will only stop when enough people in the audience disrupt his show. Anyone else want to buy a ticket?

[Pixel]

I wanted to watch this but I didn't get home in time. Is it likely to be repeated do you think?

[Ben10isthespawnofthedevil]

It's on Sky Anytime but not youtube

[unpa1dcar3r]

OMG am not believing the vitriol on AIBU from certain types. Most have been understanding and nice but for goodness sakes, many seem to have targeted katie. That girl can't do right for doing boody wrong can she!

[TheCrunchyside]

The aibu thread was chilling. So many people refusing to engage at all with how wrong it is to mock a child with disabilities. Really depressing.

[appropriatelytrained]

This type of comedy (to a less brutal degree) is so mainstream though as you can see not only by Boyle's reluctance to apologise although he must appreciate what he said was appalling but also the silly little comedian girl who clearly thought it was all part of the rough and tumble of the comedy world.

What a bunch of wankers they all are.

[appropriatelytrained]

You are right and they wouldn't do that as that would lose them money. But it's ok to have a go at vulnerable groups, attract your Sun readers but keep your Channel 4 types happy by pretending you're doing it to 'shock' and 'push back boundaries' .

I can't believe supposedly intelligent broadcasters like Channel 4 put these people on their channel.

Sick of - you are right. They are the latter day Jim Davidsons. I'm not sure why others can't see that. 10 years from now we'll be laughing at and despising them and their audiences the same way we do now for 1970s comics.

[unpa1dcar3r]

Example 1; Jade Goody called Shilpa Shetty a pki.
Result; media outcry, Jade hounded and vilified, Shilpa Shetty made a heroine, also made a fortune! Ch 4 apologising, Jade going to india to shake hands with poor kids to prove she wasn't racist (stayed in a 5 hotel but still)...

Example 2; Vinnie Jones (again on BB) told davina McCall she was 'walking like a r*tard'.
Result; Nothing, a big fat zilch, not one complaint as far as I'm aware, not one referrence to it being said and being wrong, and no apology.

[Wendihouse22]

Unpaid....that's just so awful.

Christ, makes me wonder if these people would agree with a Nazi style euthanasia programme to rid our society of all the "retards"? Oh, but then they wouldn't have sufficient material to form an act.

[unpa1dcar3r]

It's awful Wendi but it's also very typical. Disabled are ignored or ridiculed at best most of the time.
We all know this when we take our kids out and they behave strangely, how people stare, laugh and point, make comments etc...or how no one wants to play with the 'freak' in the playground.
It's all just a variation on a theme of the jokes Boyle made or those which others make (Jimmy Carr for example)

What hope have we got of challenging this mentality when top 'comedians' (although it's not how I'd describe them) mock and ridilcule them on an open stage and get laughs out of it?