Remember the Tim Dowling thread? Can we really not slag off celebrities on mn any more ?

[BrendaandEddie]

Like the site used to allow.
I'd like a clarification on mn policy on this.

Its a sad PC world where you can't talk about someone Albanian's skin colour without being called racist. Should be treated the same as talking about someone's hair or eye colour.

Is that what it descended into, allegations of racism?

The Cilla Black thread was a prime example of the nastiness anonymity can promote. As with many of the celeb threads I wondered how some posters reconciled their comments with their supposed humanity!

And often with their supposed feminism.

Some people just cant wait to get stuck into a famous woman and slag off their weight/dress sense/hair/make-up etc.

Yet you'll often find them on another thread, blaming society/the media/men etc, when someone says their DD has weight or image issues.

It's bonkers at times!

I don't mind if a celeb thread is criticising the person's work or stated opinions that fine. I'm not even particularly bothered by comments on personal style but some threads are quite nasty and a based on pure speculation.

The Amal Clooney thread was awful IMO.

There was also a thread recently where the OP baselessly slated Kenneth Branagh's character although she did relent when a number of posters who had met him personally said he was lovely.

Celebrities are real people. Comment on their work, their opinions or their behaviour if you don't like it but don't make stuff up just to be nasty.

Ah. "It's a sad PC world"

100% accurate indicator of racism, sexism, homophobia or other unpleasantness!

I was so angry about that Lily Allen thread. It was a thread that addressed her apparently hypocritical stance on dieting to conform, her strange views on feminism and her selfie-obsession which led to her putting a picture of herself with a drip in her arm in hospital up on Twitter. I thought she had changed a lot as a personality and could not help but feel that concern you do when you have teens looking up to slebs like her as role models.

I don't remember any vitriol, although someone rather amusingly described her as an "older housewife" , but it was pulled because there was discussion of drug taking.

And it was pulled in its entirety because of a couple of dodgy posts, whilst at the same time there were extremely long running threads about what a bimbo Katie Price is/was and how orange Peter Andre is/was.

Double standards. And I do think what is the point of celebrities if we are not allowed to have opinions about them?

I didn't see the Cilla Black thread but it would have been nice if people could have restrained themselves just after her death.

I'd be very up for a Peter Andre bashing thread...

The Jon Ronson one was bloody hilarious.

I'm sad I missed the Jon Ronson one.

MN is built on bashing Peter Andre, it's the very fibre. Take that away and all we're left with is Aldi recommendations and grumblings about weddings.

Yes, but its utterly hypocritical. Peter Andre also has children (he loves them, you know) who can search the web and see what the nasty Mums on Mumsnet think of him.

I haven't been on mn for ages and was surprised at some of the holier than thou comments.
There are female slebs I don't like and male slebs often for no real reason.
All this ' oh they're real people too'

They wouldn't give a toss if any of us were getting a slating

The ones that stick in my mind were the Jade Goody threads where people were slagging her off for "exaggerating" her cancer scare "to get publicity".

Oh yes she was really exaggerating that wasn't she

Some truly awful things were said on the basis of people being 100% sure that she must be making it up because they had a hunch and couldn't possibly be wrong, could they?

I don't care whether it's "in the spirit of mumsnet" or not, celebs are real people and there should be a line.

Being on a forum doesn't let you off your humanity.

Being a nest of vipers is not the same as just being cunts.

I always think the Peter Andre stuff is tongue in cheek, I don't recall any real out and out nastiness about him to the point a thread had to be deleted.

The loving his kids thing is a running joke, and he is orange that's fact.

I can't remember exactly Mintyy but there were some pretty nasty comments about her as a mother.

I have never seen one particular Cilla thread, but I have seen her called a, and I quote, 'cunt' on here on more than one occasion. I never saw anything about the Cilla hatred not.being in the spirit of Mumsnet.

In fact I'm ashamed to say that when I heard she had died, my absolute first thought was, 'I wonder what MN will say', which is rather testament to the nasty things that have been said about her and obviously been allowed to stand.

I just don't really get the, what appears to be, big double standards.

What was the Tim Dowling thread about? Poor Tim! I like him!

MN is built on bashing Peter Andre, it's the very fibre. Take that away and all we're left with is Aldi recommendations and grumblings about weddings.

Exactly! Clearly the thread only got pulled because of silly racism accusations or that they get cash from ITV.

I actually have a aldi aibu but I've had too many threads here over the last week

Was the Tim Dowling thread started when he wrote that column about not bringing his pet to the vet even though it was ill and in pain?

Cilla threads wouldn't of got pulled as she's out in the wilderness with no pr or agency.

Jon Ronson's speaking voice

I remember a Posh Spice one was pulled, and the deletion message said something about not being mean to her as she's a mother (paraphrasing massively but that was the jist).

'You're right, it is weird to get upset about people making nasty, puerile comments about one's husband. I think I was just surprised that such poison would emanate from a website for mums. Although seeing how much time you all spend on this I can't believe you are mums. Are you all in institutions?'

It's a bit cringesome when people wade in online to defend their loved one.

I love that 'I can't believe mums can be so mean' is always the rebuke! As though childbirth should have purged all bitchiness from one's being.

If I ever marry a very famous, middling famous, or even slightly famous person I'm going to allow MN to do their worst. I'll probably even nod in agreement at some of the criticism.

Jay Rayner's wife came on when we were perving over him admiring his culinary critique, and was all nice and friendly.

Spot on Sleepy