To think Jo Brand should be allowed to joke about anything and everything?

[noleftturn]

I don't want to live in a world where we are all censored

I like Jo, but I was disappointed she made a joke about acid attacks, and I didn't find it remotely amusing.

Should she be cancelled ? No.

Plenty of people are signing petitions to lose her her job

Why? Because she’s actually bad at her job, or because they’re demonstrating what virtuous people they are, people who’d never make a tasteless joke?

I hate all this grandstanding and wallowing in unearned moral superiority.

Why is Boris Johnstone's remarks about women in burkas looking like letterboxes getting so much stick from the same quarters that now defend the far worse comments of Jo Brand.

It can't be one line for some and another for others.

What will happen to her if tomorrow, someone does throw battery acid at Nigel Farage? Lots of oinks and squeaks from people saying it was nothing to do with her I guess.

It wouldn't surprise me if the BBC have the ugly woman who might benefit from a skin peel (that is a joke, so I hope it isn't deleted)chairing 'Have I got News for you' tomorrow or next week.

I should have added that in terms of hate speech, the only kind of speech I think should be criminal is incitement to violence. Not offence.

It's not up to me to decide if this was incitement to violence (it certainly wasn't incitement to violence re a member of a protected group), but I don't think it's wrong to investigate it as potential hate speech.

I don't really get where the line is in the UK. On the one hand, joe public can go to jail for posting a bad-taste joke (that doesn't incite violence or hatred), but it seems that is okay is you're a tv comedian?

www.theguardian.com/uk/2012/oct/08/april-jones-matthew-woods-jailed

The line is:

I don't like it
Waaaah.

I quite like Jo Brand, but on this occasion she got it wrong. We've all seen the horrors of actual acid attacks. She should have considered this before opening her mouth.

I remember Ricky Gervais "joking" that M.E was the condition "that's the one where err, I'm too tired to go to work today". Sometimes "comedians" go too far, this battery acid "joke" is another.

So much frothing and pointless remarks about Jo not being funny. You may not think she's funny but that just means you don't think she's funny. Other people find her hilarious.

She's freelance so she can't be sacked. The Beeb could decide not to employ her any more but they won't. She's far too popular and brings the audiences in. She made one off-colour joke and some are baying for blood. They need to grow the fuck up.

And why the police are bothering with what Farage (I'll pick up a rifle) is whining about is beyond me.

His hypocrisy is pathetic.

@DaisiesAreOurSilver 'one off colour joke' and 'grow the fuck up' - 🤔. Tell that to Katie Piper. Any reference to any form of acid attack - battery or otherwise - is extremely poor form. Jo Brand should have known better. Much better. She herself has created this backlash and strong opinion. I'm sure she has a plethora of funnies she could have used instead. She chose not to and now finds herself in this shit storm.

If Farage or Trump had made that "joke" how many people would be defending them?

Precisely.

Just because it was Brand who said it doesn't make it any more acceptable.

Double standards all round.

I agree OP

@crazyasafox - well said. Completely and utterly agree with you. 👍

If Farage or Trump had made that "joke" how many people would be defending them?

They have no wit or sense of humour. It would never happen.

I really don't understand the outrage. Maybe have a go at the editor who let it pass?

There are far worse jokes told every day. Some people here have no sense of proportion. Every joke is going to offend someone. We can't censor ourselves constantly. How dull life would be.

Did you say the same when Danny Baker tweeted that pic?

Does anyone think that Jo Brand gives two fucks about this?

She has aimed her joke at the same people that she always targets for her humour.

Due to that she is unlikely to lose any fans or gain any.

What she will get out of this is some publicity and celebs love that.

I agree with @Idontwanttobeaman

Substitute the word “politician” who are like the pantomime baddies of the moment, with another profession or a minority group and I think we’d have a very different debate.

I for one, really like Jo Brand however, can’t defend her on this one

1. Was it funny? No, though at least it wasn’t Jo Brand’s normal fare (fat jokes, husband jokes, yawn)

1. Should it be censored? No, we should have free speech.

1. Would it be different if it was a right wing comedian? In the histrionic media everyone would switch sides so yes. But it shouldn’t make a difference.

1. Does that mean Count Dukula shouldn’t have been prosecuted? Correct, he shouldn’t have been.

1. What about Jo Cox? While doubtless Brand does hate various people not on message (this is the way of our dismally tribal politics, full of hyperbole and hysteria) she was not actually inciting violence. She was making a crap joke.

1. What about Boris Johnson’s letter box joke? Exactly the same joke was made a few years ago on Have I got news for you and no one batted an eyelid. Moreover, Johnson said the burka should not be banned. A few years ago in the Guardian Polly Toynbee wrote an extremely aggressive attack on the burka saying it was mediaeval oppression of women, disgusting etc. But because it was Polly T in the Guardian, no one batted an eyelid.

1. What about Danny Baker? He didn’t know the Royal baby was mixed race since he paid no attention to the Royal family. Afua Hirsch of the Guardian deliberately misrepresented this to mean Baker was ignorant of the racist trope about chimpanzees, and by then Baker was gone anyway. Unlike Jo Brand, Baker didn’t mean any racial offence (he meant anti royal offence) and immediately deleted the tweet when he was told of the baby’s parentage.

1. Should everyone calm down a bit? Yes

Did you say the same when Danny Baker tweeted that pic?

I believed him when he said he hadn't realised the implications.

We shouldn't have to constantly watch what we say. Life will be dull. There are always people looking to be offended. We need to not listen to them and make up our own minds.

Why is Boris Johnstone's remarks about women in burkas looking like letterboxes getting so much stick from the same quarters that now defend the far worse comments of Jo Brand

She isn't an MP or about to become Prime Minister.

What will happen to her if tomorrow, someone does throw battery acid at Nigel Farage?

You think terrible acts happen only if someone suggests them first? Point me to the jokes about Milkshakes that triggered the recent attacks?
Or the right wing comedian who suggested Jo Cox should be shot?

What exactly was the response of the pro brexit media to Jess Phillips and the sustained "jokes" she has had to put up with, inc rape.... ?

Which has incited the most violence or hatred - Jo Brand's lame joke or Farage's misleading immigration poster? As usual everyone is getting hysterical about a misjudged comment or joke whilst letting the real poison continue to fester in our society. I am far more worried about Farage's growing influence than Jo Brand's rubbish jokes.

There are many things that I think people shouldn't joke about and this is one of them.

I'm not sure if my post about Book of Mormon actually worked, but this is one of the most successful shows ever and it parodies all of the things that have been listed here as forbidden subjects, i.e. paedophilia, rape, incest, and so on.

It's not that hard to grasp - different people have different world views.

jasjas1973

She isn't an MP or about to become Prime Minister.

That doesn't mean that she can't or shouldn't be held to account for saying something stupid.

I dunno, where do you draw the line? I mean if it OK to suggest to throw acid at a politician, does that mean it's OK to suggest to throw acid at a child for cherry knocking? I think what she said was not sensible no.

For the record, whilst I think the so called joke is ridiculous and unfunny I am not asking for censorship.

I am asking for consistency. If this is OK, so is Danny Baker's chimpanzee tweet, so is Boris Johnson's article about burkas. But the left wing Liberal types will scream outrage at the these latter two examples but are very silent about when the target is a white male right wing politician rather than an individual of BAME origin.

If a comedian / tv channel is offensive to you, you should be able to unfollow them / switch them off. Which is why the BBC should have their arse handed to them for broadcasting this. Their role isn't to be edgy or controversial, it is to be a public service broadcaster. If they wish to force people to pay for them they need to stay firmly within the lines of uncontroversial subjects. I've had enough of the BBC legitimising hatred of anyone who's political opinion deviates from their own.

Oh and I've heard a lot of things blamed on Brexit but Jo Cox's tragic murder is a bit of a stretch.