Disgusting David Mitchell

[Beeziekn33ze]

Listening to Radio 4 at 12:00 today. Programme called The Unbelievable Truth, panellists trying to get 3 truths mixed with ridiculous lies past each other. At the end DM,who has always appeared benign, says which are which. One 'truth' was that wolf packs are lead by the chief sexual predator, fine. Then the foul mouthed fool added 'so are cubs' and by the sound of it a panellist or three tittered.
What a nasty double meaning. Yuk, yuk and yuk.
How dare he insult Scout and Cub leaders who have put up with enough? They are voluntary and give their time to making it possible for kids to have out of school activities and learn first aid and other useful skills.
I hope the BBC make him apologise loud and clear. A money contribution would be good too. Or could he be sued for slander.
I'm upset that a man like that makes grubby fun of people willing to help kids on a regular basis.

You sound a bit simple, OP.

It's just a joke, like on Top Gear.

donquixotedelamancha

When I were a lad there was a lad at school, no older than 14, clever (got good grades at school) from a reactionary working-class family. His stock in trade whenever gay rights issues were in the news (and this was the age when the age of consent was legalised and Section 28 repealed) was to say “They [don’t know who “they” were] ought to round up all the gays, put them on an island somewhere, and have the RAF use them for target practice.”

I’d like that boy (who I’ve lost contact with, and I daresay has grown up to be super-woke, given I know he moved to one of the most liberal cities in woke Canada) to stand and say that in front of Stephen Fry, and then see if Fry sticks to the “I'm offended - well so fucking what” line.

I say this as a "freeze-peach" fetishist. It's OK to laugh off jokes aimed at others if you're OK to laugh those off aimed at you.

I didn't laugh because I don't find jokes about child abuse funny

That's fine. People should be free to make jokes about child abuse, in the same way as people are free not to find them funny. That we everyone wins. The comic gets to make the joke, and you get not to laugh.

"way", not "we"

As an ex-cub scout leader I found it quite funny.

It's just a joke, like on Top Gear.

Yes, Stew

Are youu by any chance involved with cubs op

Either that or a paedophile offended that people would be involved with the cubs.

I'm sure Stephen Fry has heard his fair share of homophobia.

Yes of course OP we should all just shut up
about the abuse that has gone on in these clubs

*Its just a joke, like on Top Gear.

Yes, Stew*

That's exactly what I thought of too!

Settle down OP.

Obviously there's quite an overlap in the Stewart Lee/David Mitchell fan Venn diagram.

I find him so unfunny If he is ever on I watch to see if I was right the first time.
He bores the tits off me.

No. This is stupid. Stop it.

Ye gods. I was a scout. I was abused by two men: one was the scout leader, one was a parent helper. It was, I hate to say it, fairly endemic in the 90s (also probably before, but I wasn't a scout then!). My abuse was one of those cases where it's "not that bad" and "at least you weren't drugged and raped".

As it happens, I turned out to be a teacher, and I'm an adult instructor for the ACF. I can promise you that these days the background checks are, happily, far more stringent. So yes, back then there were far more nonces. Now there aren't.

Doesn't mean it's not funny.

He doesn't know what he's doing, OP.

ADropofReality

I’d like that boy....to stand and say that in front of Stephen Fry, and then see if Fry sticks to the “I'm offended - well so fucking what” line.

Context is everything. As you describe the situation it doesn't sound like a joke to me; even if it was, it would (at best) be staggeringly rude to say it to a gay man.

I like free speech, but there is a line where it crosses into harassment.
OP's example is so far from that line it's funny.

I don't think Fry's point is that you shouldn't take offence, but 'so what if you do?' To go from being offended to imagining that (for example) the offender is 'foul mouthed', will be made to apologise and pay compensation or be sued for slander is laughable.

Well..I think most cub/scout leaders are great to give up their time etc.. and look after the young people in their care really well and should be applauded.

That said, I work with victims of abuse and perpetrators of abuse on a daily basis. The amount of times that Cubs/scouts has been raised in relation to abuse on both sides means that I will NEVER send my boys to Cubs or scouts (which is a shame, as I know many many children do attend and are fine and have a great time) ...

I laughed at the joke #notsorry

I'm sorry but this kind of 'joke' is just not acceptable these days. There are many far less offensive comments that have resulted in media and online outcries and apologies. This one is beyond the pale for me and this Mitchell character should be dismissed IMO.

BlueTrees123I'm sorry but this kind of 'joke' is just not acceptable these days. There are many far less offensive comments that have resulted in media and online outcries and apologies. This one is beyond the pale for me and this Mitchell character should be dismissed IMO

Maybe it’s not acceptable to YOU. It’s perfectly acceptable to many of us. Maybe you’d like to explain why you find it unacceptable?

Dismissed 🤣😆

Meh. Frothing nonsense. YADBU

As everyone else says, it was a joke with an element of truth in it. I always thought B-P was a bit dodgy too. I used to have a very old copy of Scouting for Boys and there were quite a few pages on the perils of masturbation and how to avoid such beastliness (cold baths IIRC).It was all a bit weird!

It was a joke. Have a biscuit snowflake 🍪

I personally think DM is quite clever but sometimes jokes just rub us up the wrong way. That joke has done that to you but you can’t berate his ability or intelligence on the back of one quip.