Jonathan Ross

That was more extreme. She was 14 when they started dating and he was a lot older than 24. I don't know how he got away with that it definitely sent the wrong message.

Yep no one made Ross blurt out what he did on those prank calls.

https://x.com/MirabelTweets1/status/2118635332774285744

'Rik Mayall saw through Stephen Fry & his paedophilia In 1979 Fry wrote the play “Latin!Or Tobacco & Bots” about a pederastic Latin teacher & a 13 yr old pupil. Fry acted in the play at the Edinburgh Fringe playing the part of the paedophile. Fry is v well protected'

It really wasn't. I'm the same age as her and would have thought he was dodgy as, as would my parents, one of whom worked in a role now called safeguarding.

And of course, JR started to take off in the 80s when a 30 something man married a 19 year old and we all cheered and called it a royal wedding.

You really think the 47 Ross referring to 22 year old Lily as “sexually attractive" and moving her from 'two of the best known cocksmen of the business" ”so she could go home with her dress still on” was 'doing Lily Allen a favour'?

Or was he being a seedy old perve for laughs?

A perve who then sat there whilst the two men beside him made rape jokes in front of a young woman 25 years his junior.

The many ways people will twist things to excuse the behaviour of grim older men.

It's a good job 'trial by social media' isn't an actual thing.

Some of you lot would have innocent men in jail for marrying a 16 year old.

But 20 - 30 feels very different from 16 - 26? Its not just the total number of years difference but life stages and development - again, a 20 year old who has been working and supporting themself would be very different from a 20 year old who had only ever lived at home and if you were talking about 76 - 86 things would be very different again.

Jonathan Ross, like Stephen Fry (also married a child like person when he was much much older - THIRTY YEARS) - both seem to be protected by the BBC. Both fcking disgusting.

Ross always reminds me of the kid at school who stands behind the big bully and taunts others knowing he is safe

It wasn't.

Loads of people (including people on another thread about 'Wossy') thinks its perfectly okay she was 16 and he 26 as they are still married. Still not sure how the fact they've stayed together has any bearing on the fact that it was was inapropriate that he got into a relationship with a 16 year old rather than a woman his own age. The idea that a subsequent romantic relationship defends the behaviour somewhat is deeply off. Wouldnt say that about physical abuse. I wonder if the defenders of this behaviour would feel the same if he had dated 4 different 16 year olds and ended up marrying the last one. Or didnt marry any of them and went on to marry someone his own age. What if they married and then had since got divorced?Would that be okay i wonder? Plenty of men managed to get through the 90s and 2000s without saying disgusting stuff on tv about and to women and not marrying teenagers. What else does a man have to do to signal he's a creep! That Aisling Bea interview wasnt that long ago at all!

Maybe he knew about the predatory behaviour of his mates. Or maybe he didn't. It's entirely possible that they announced it and that he stupidly thought it was a joke that he then played along with. That would suggest that he is a misogynist with bad judgment and a very poor sense of humour. It does not necessarily prove that he knew anything.

It maybe people here are at cross purposes. My point and I think some others is that someone who routinely makes misogynistic jokes, clearly has a view of women as a sexual commodity and denigrates them with what he says and participated in that awful Andrew Sachs call, should not be employed by mainstream media or promoted in the way he has been and continues to be. His friendship with Brand shows the kind of person he is IMHO and undercuts the idea he was always just 'reading a script'. The Lily Allen & Aishling Bea examples are where he is speaking on his own account. I'm not talking about what he knew or didn't know. I'm saying that in my opinion he's not a fit person with those sort of views and unpleasant nasty humor that promotes the idea of women as sexualised commodities to be given mainstream TV hosting roles.

This is the modern acceptable face of Bernard Manning/Benny HIll style jokes about women and its time it was stopped.

If anyone has genuine evidence in relation to Jonathan Ross, then bring it on. I have no desire to defend him.

His behaviour (together with Brand) to Andrew Sachs has meant I have never watched or listened to him again. Or Brand for that matter. Grim.

I've been thinking about Jonathan Ross a lot recently, too, in relation to Russell Brand.

I went to his Halloween party about 15 years ago (I was friends with his daughter at the time) and stayed the night. It's the only time I've met him, and when all the famous guests (including David Walliams) had left he was utterly miserable, unfriendly and snapping at his wife. They obviously then had a row, as at one point in the middle of the night he burst into the spare room where my then-girlfriend and I were sleeping. To be fair, he was utterly mortified and mumbled, "Sorry, girls, I didn't realise anyone was in here," and left immediately. But there was absolutely nothing likeable about him once his famous mates had gone and he was only around his family and nobodies in their late teens and early twenties.

He also had a framed letter from Russell Brand on his wall, all about how great it was that his career had recovered from Sachs-gate and how wonderful he (JR) is. Really cringey.

This, my dad is ten years older than my mum and they met when she was twenty, would be quite frightened upon on MN these days but was very common back then. FWIW my mum left school at 14 and had been working for 6 years by then, so very different times

Why are there so many "-personalities" that make our skin crawl? What it it that makes that sell?

He's another one who has always made my skin crawl but at this moment in time that is proof of nothing. He has kept dubious company for many years and I am amazed that he sitll has a public profile. Guess we will have to wait and see

I don't dispute that he is a shitbag. But like I said earlier, there is a difference between being a wanker and being a criminal.

Maybe he knew about the predatory behaviour of his mates. Or maybe he didn't. It's entirely possible that they announced it and that he stupidly thought it was a joke that he then played along with. That would suggest that he is a misogynist with bad judgment and a very poor sense of humour. It does not necessarily prove that he knew anything.

Thank you for posting this.

All the way through the coverage of the Russell Brand trial I could hear, in my head, Jonathan Ross saying this on that programme.

I'm glad it's not just me who remembers this vile reveal.

Im not sure how JR can be criticised in that scenario. Presumably he was doing Lily Allen a favour by moving her?

I saw that, and at the time thought it was a jibe at the unattractive Brydon and Mitchell.

I actually thought that was a really entertaining show at the time. I clearly remember watching it with DH and enjoyed the nonsense of Brand and Fielding, which is shocking to me now.

Never could abide Johnathan Ross, and agree he was sleazy from the start. As someone about the same age, I remember being pretty disgusted by the idea he met her when she was 16 at the time they got married. But when I was in my 20s, the world was very much run by men in their 50s and 60s and many of them still thought it was ok to put their hand up your skirt, or try to force themselves on you and excuse it as being drunk.

It isn't illegal to make a distasteful joke!!