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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Aibu to want this presenter fired...

324 replies

Princess28 · 12/08/2015 20:07

I'm all for freedom of speech but I think as a radio presenter on BBC you do need to have some standards. He describes (from minutes 9-12) how breastfeeding is 'unnatural' and 'guys' don't want to see it in public. He describes a situation on a bus with a larger lady breastfeeding. He's not a rent a gob guest- he's the presenter. So aibu to want him off the airwaves?

www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p02y4dz4

OP posts:
emotionsecho · 14/08/2015 18:24

Yes limited it has been reported as a statement from Scotland Yard about photographers being mistaken for terrorists. Agree with you on your points about Jean Charles de Menedez.

YonicScrewdriver · 14/08/2015 18:27

If it's just an opinion and he's entitled to express it, is he also allowed to say "gay guys shouldn't snog or hold hands in public but if it's two hot lesbians, go for it girls, Phwoar"?

Because basically his position is that the acceptability of public feeding is to do with the woman's appearance as he judged it.

limitedperiodonly · 14/08/2015 18:55

Phone-in radio hosts must be provocative. Otherwise no one will call.

Even if you don't want to call you will get boiling angry listening to them or in boiling agreement.

I don't listen because they annoy me.

limitedperiodonly · 14/08/2015 18:56

is he also allowed to say "gay guys shouldn't snog or hold hands in public but if it's two hot lesbians, go for it girls, Phwoar"?

Yes, he is

thehypocritesoaf · 14/08/2015 18:57

Just give the job to someone intelligent. Or someone funny.

Not some woman hating wanker.

JassyRadlett · 14/08/2015 19:03

Some of the reporting in the UK was that Australians felt that we as a nation were overly proud of our monarchy and ought to try to get over a bit of teasing.

Ah. My perspective, as an Australian, is that some elements of the British media have a really weird attitude about Australia and Australians. It doesn't tend to match my experience.

Worth remembering that Australia had a referendum on the monarchy, not so long ago, and chose to keep it. Not just Britain's monarchy, y'know?

Phone-in radio hosts must be provocative. Otherwise no one will call.

Again, I disagree with the 'must'.

limitedperiodonly · 14/08/2015 19:06

Just give the job to someone intelligent. Or someone funny.

Yes. There are a lot of us lining up for that job.

You might not like our views.

thehypocritesoaf · 14/08/2015 19:08

I don't get you. There are loads of people who'd love to work presenting for the bbc. They know not to be racist. They know not to be sexist. What on earth makes this twat a protected species?

limitedperiodonly · 14/08/2015 19:28

There are loads of people who'd love to work presenting for the bbc

Of course there are. That doesn't mean to say that they can do it.

This expresses my POV of what makes a good phone-in well even if I don't like
Jon Gaunt at all.

And I don't understand what you are saying about a protected species.

Hasn't this person been suspended? Jon Gaunt has also been purged. I don't care. I don't like him, but he is picking up fans for his pod casts.

PeppaWellington · 14/08/2015 19:33

It's very easy to provoke debate without having to be the male equivalent of katie hopkins.

You say < assumes deejayyy voice> "So, [utter wanker] today was reported as saying [utter bollocks]. Well, that's an interesting point of view, do people actually believe that, or is [utter wanker] and yap flapping drunken attention seeker with no more brain than a tin can? How do you feel about this subject? Is there anything that can justify what [utter wanker] has said? Do you have any experience of [subject matter inhand] or do you like phoning in to local radio? Please call us on 123456789."

You don't have to BE the wanker, you have to QUOTE the wanker. And thus not broadcast proof that you are a sexist repugnant ill educated overly bouffanted halfwit who thinks it's ok to breastfeed if you're sexually attractive, because for some reason in your head, you equate a baby being fed with a sexual act.

Why do all these anti bf morons always criticise the woman breastfeeding, and never say actually how they feel about it, and express themselves? Why do they just say 'it's wrong, that woman is a moose, it's disgusting, SHE should do that in a toilet' instead of 'when I see that I feel uncomfortable because/I feel this way about it/I feel my comfort and need for That Sort Of Thing not to occur in public is more important than that baby's need to be fed and that woman's right and need to go out in public because/this is why it's only OK for hot sexy young things to bf in public and not women who fall below 8/10 on my personal MILF scale/here is the reason I could not swivel my eyes in another direction/I like to hear screaming hungry babies and see women in distress because/here is why even though I don't like it, I shouldn't shut up and put up on the very odd occasion I notice a woman bfing etc.'

I think if you don't like that breastfeeding exists, fine. If you don't like women doing it in public places, fine. If you don't think anyone should bf, it's unnecessary and we should all bottlefeed, fine. Just express that in a way that isn't critical of the women who do it, tell us about your own feelings on the subject, and seek to understand the other point of view. And if you're a decent human being and articulate enough to be deserving of a slot on bbc radio, you should be able to do that without making an utter utter cockwomble of yourself.

PegsPigs · 14/08/2015 19:41

Long actually made me lol!

emotionsecho · 14/08/2015 20:05

Perfectly expressed Peppa

JassyRadlett · 14/08/2015 21:16

Spot on, Peppa.

AyeAmarok · 14/08/2015 22:15

Did anyone else just hear what Adam Hills said about this On The Last Leg on C4? Grin

frozen70 · 14/08/2015 22:48

No but I can imagine.

Bambambini · 15/08/2015 00:10

I stupidly looked at the comments in the DM - how depressing. I wonder if the views there are actually representative of how the majority of people actually feel about public bf - even more depressing.

MrsItsNoworNotatAll · 15/08/2015 07:29

He shouldn't lose his job, even knobjockeys like him have to earn a living.

I don't even think he needs educating, he's a wind up merchant. Even if he actually believes the crap he's spouted does any woman worth their give an actual fuck what he thinks???
I certainly don't.

Ignore him, he'll crawl back under his stone. I'd never heard of him till now.

YonicScrewdriver · 15/08/2015 07:48

"He shouldn't lose his job, even knobjockeys like him have to earn a living. "

He's a presenter, his job is speaking. If he speaks sexist crap, then he is bad at his job. He can earn a living some other way if sacked.

ptumbi · 15/08/2015 08:45

MrsIts - it's the BBC! This is a GLOBAL platform he is spouting from.

And it's illegal. It's kicking a vulnerable group.

Cracking post, peppa

mollie123 · 15/08/2015 08:56

vulnerable group - how are bf mothers in any way vulnerable
the law is on their side
they are not incapacitated / at risk from anyone
they have the support of most right thinking people
{shock]

mollie123 · 15/08/2015 08:57

that was in reply to ptumbi
added extra Shock

Hygge · 15/08/2015 09:06

"Did anyone else just hear what Adam Hills said about this On The Last Leg on C4?"

What did he say? I'm sure he was spot on with whatever it was Smile

Does this idiot actually go about calling himself "Mr Controversial"?

Because if you have to actually call yourself a name like that, you might as well carry a banner saying "I'm a boring sod and nobody likes me so I'm going to be as loud and annoying as possible and pretend it's a personality."

Expressing an opinion at work can get you fired in any industry. Radio should be no different.

Especially as in this case he wasn't just giving a general opinion, he was commenting personally on the appearance and behaviour of one particular woman as well.

And she may have realised he's talking about her. Or been recognised by the other passengers on the bus.

He's deliberately targeted one particular woman and then gone on to generalise about others who breastfeed, but his deliberate singling out of the woman on the bus shouldn't be lost in the generalisation.

ptumbi · 15/08/2015 09:12

Vulnerable because they have spent 9 months growing a child, their body is not their own, they are unsure, insecure, well aware that some people feel 'disgusted' by them breastfeeding in public, they are not looking or feeling their best, they are tired, exhausted, hormonal, - and judged, sneered at, told to 'stay at home' where they can't disgust anyone with their boobs being used for 'unnatural' practices
I would argue that they are incapacitated - they are at a severe disadvantage holding a feeding baby.

This 'Man' and his followers are like a pack of lions. The women have no means of reply - becasue he's told them that 'your husband agrees with me'. That is not a debate.

The law may be on her side, but it is not going to do anything. It'll all blow over and the blokes can go back to kicking the elderly, babies, disabled, anyone who dares to go out in public who is not a perfect specimen.

ptumbi · 15/08/2015 09:13

Hygge - "Mr Controversial"? 'I'm mad, me!'

Grin

Desperate, he means.

Pneumometer · 15/08/2015 09:14

Does this idiot actually go about calling himself "Mr Controversial"?

He probably wears bright socks. Never trust a man in bright socks.