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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

Michael Barrymore

585 replies

ChairsAndStairs · 06/02/2020 21:29

I’ve always wondered why his career was so badly damaged by what happened at his house.

It was awful that a man died, but he was never found guilty and it was never proved that he was in any way involved - as far as I remember.

He was so popular before and had a really strong career. AIBU to wonder why people turned against him so quickly?

I don’t mean this to be a goady thread, just generally wondering why he was the ‘only’ fall guy for what happened.

OP posts:

Thread gallery

MrsBrentford · 08/02/2020 07:51

I don't think many people would be able to shake off the impact of somebody dying at their house, it doesn't tend to make you party host of the century

Sorry but that did make me laugh

KatherineJaneway · 08/02/2020 07:54

The girls who witnessed this horrific attack would have been terrified into silence.

At the time maybe, but all these years later?

lolaflores · 08/02/2020 08:07

The journalist was quite a find wasnt he. The tactics he used to prise information from the family. His comment that if this had been a young pretty girl, the photos would have been amazing and given the case a fantastic profile. His back handed way of saying that if SL had t been involved in a gay orgy scenario, he would have had some kind of justice. The man seemed to have had all basic human selfless sympathy for another person suffering removed or shut down. He was focused on the amount of exclusives he could get out of it.
Two systems feeding o each other.
Barrymore needs the press to sustain his career.
The press need Barrymore to sell copies.
Flip the power balance over and suddenly the gmoves are off and civilians like Stuart Lubbock are crushed to bits in the battle.
The tabloids had a hand in destroying SL reputation with the slant they put on the circumstances to spice it all up and give the public a cheap thrill. All of which has blurred the facts and undermined any sympathy for the victim as a victim and ot somehow complicit in his own death.

Roussette · 08/02/2020 08:07

I just don’t understand why he would cover up for a person/people

It just doesn’t make sense. His whole career ruined for other random people??

Because he's covering himself up, that's why...

Logfootlightoe · 08/02/2020 08:17

‘Lightfootlighttoe
First time poster I see’

Er, no I’m not. Though I’m not sure what that would have to do with anything?

I’m of the opinion that M. Has been given such a hard time because he’s gay. Makes it all more ‘lurid’ in peoples eyes. Look at how many times the drunken all- back- to- mine party has been described as an ‘orgy’...

ExcessiveAdmin · 08/02/2020 08:20

He is definitely covering for himself. Like a pp said, Barrymore was so invested in his career and absolutely adored the attention and adulation he received. Just look at him when he went into celeb BB- sobbing with joy at all the applause and public recognition.
If he wasn’t involved he would have sung like a canary, as pp put it to save his career.

ExcessiveAdmin · 08/02/2020 08:24

@Logfootlightoe, he’s been given a hard time because someone was raped and murdered in his house while he was there and his response is to dissemble, obstruct and whine about his crappy career indicating how self absorbed and narcissistic he really is.
Appropriate behaviour would be horrified at the events and doing everything he could to help police find the perpetrators. Little toad.

fripperyclose · 08/02/2020 08:27

The documentary completely changed my perception of that night, in my head it was a massive party in a mansion where someone drowned and Barrymore was maybe not even in the same room! When it was basically a small group of friends who lured a young man back to what looked like a bungalow?!

I wish they had focused on the other people who were there too. But Michael Barrymore is clearly guilty, his behaviour and deflection afterwards prove this even if there is not enough evidence.

I also felt that the poor Lubbocks were obviously incredibly vulnerable and not in a good position to stand up for themselves. If it had been a middle class white girl in that pool the rhetoric around the incident would've been COMPLETELY different.

TheCraicDealer · 08/02/2020 08:28

Throughout the program it was clear that MB lived for performing and he has tried (and failed) repeatedly to revive his career. Seeing his emotion reacting to the crowd on entering the BB house, having to be shuffled on by a production assistant, showed clearly how much he'd missed it. If he genuinely had no involvement do you really think he wouldn't try anything, including touting on his nearest and dearest, to get a ounce of that back?

I also thought it was a sad case of drowning when it happened (I was 13 at the time) so the documentary was pretty shocking. It's such a tragedy that SL's family aren't going to get any justice unless MB, the party goers or that PA suddenly grow a conscience. And as an aside why wasn't that PA charged with anything after lifting those items?

Logfootlightoe · 08/02/2020 08:37

Again, the documentary isn’t FACT it’s telling a story from a POV. One that will get the highest ratings.
I do think it’s a shame that the family won’t be given any peace on this tho, if they don’t believe he accidentally drowned while partying and there no proof otherwise, then there is no closure for them.

dayswithaY · 08/02/2020 08:39

It's way too easy to say he's getting a hard time just because he's gay. Does anyone want to see repeats of Animal Hospital with Rolf Harris on TV? Anyone defending Prince Andrew and his Pizza Express story? Thought not.

People give him a "hard time" because a horrific crime took place in his home and his subsequent behaviour suggests that he concealed evidence, fled the scene, lied to police and was either a witness to the crime, or directly responsible for it.

MrsPelligrinoPetrichor · 08/02/2020 08:43

The documentary did present facts,what do you think was presented as POV?

ChazsBrilliantAttitude · 08/02/2020 08:52

The pathologists don’t believe he drowned. In the court case linked above one of the pathologists is quoted as describing the claims that the injuries were caused post mortem as “absurd”.

Mummadeeze · 08/02/2020 08:57

He got away with this because he was famous and rich. Just disgusting. And I agree, that he was a bully when presenting and never a great entertainer anyway.

aroundtheworldyet · 08/02/2020 08:57

Why would you build a massive pool if you can’t swim?

The whole thing is so shocking. I agree I was of the mind that it was a massive party and just because you’re the host you can’t control what does on. But this was a tiny gathering. If I invited 8 people to my house I sure as fuck would know where they were. Unless I had just gone to bed and left them to it. Which apparently didn’t happen.

MimiLaRue · 08/02/2020 08:59

He got away with this because he was famous and rich. Just disgusting. And I agree, that he was a bully when presenting and never a great entertainer anyway

Totally agree. He absolutely disgusts me. He always has- the way he used to humiliate others for a cheap laugh. His behaviour regarding this case is absolutely despicable. I feel like crying for Stuart's poor dad.

Geoffreythecat · 08/02/2020 09:00

The documentary was a mixture of fact and opinions. It certainly wasn't just points of view. For example, the injuries, the cocaine and MDMA in Stuart Lubbock's body, Barrymore's hurried departure from the scene, him telling the police he couldn't swim are all facts. That the police didn't secure the scene is a fact.

aroundtheworldyet · 08/02/2020 09:02

Also the one thing the documentary raised for me is what utter scum the news of the world was. I mean total scum. And the people who worked there seem to be proud that they were utter scum too.

ChazsBrilliantAttitude · 08/02/2020 09:04

LogfootLighttoe

These are extracts from the case linked above. Stuart Lubbock suffered severe Anal injuries whilst he was still alive

They almost certainly meet the threshold for GBH. As you might know murder requires an intent to cause GBH or death. So arguably this is a potential murder case.

Geoffreythecat · 08/02/2020 09:04

Why would you build a massive pool if you can’t swim?

Agreed. Even his own wife said he could swim. And one of his drug counsellors saw him swim from the shallow to the deep end in that pool. Why would you lie about that?

Hairydilemma · 08/02/2020 09:06

I do think it’s a shame that the family won’t be given any peace on this tho, if they don’t believe he accidentally drowned while partying and there no proof otherwise, then there is no closure for them

He didn’t accidentally drown while partying. On the contrary, there is proof (from pathologists’ reports) that this wasn't what happened.

It’s not a case of the family not wanting to believe something, it’s a fact.

Scout2016 · 08/02/2020 09:07

I know the media can be prejudiced and offensive when it comes to reporting issues relating to gay people, but I don't think it's as simple as that. Boy George is still, somehow, on family shows, despite being convicted. While John Leslie's career is over.

MimiLaRue · 08/02/2020 09:12

I'm astonished anyone would think this is about homophobia. A man fcking DIED at his house after being raped and MB ran away, delayed calling an ambulance, removed evidence and lied about facts of that night and himself. This has nothing to do with him being gay and everything to do with him being guilty.

poseysbobblehat · 08/02/2020 09:14

Saw the documentary last night, the whole thing stinks.

Roussette · 08/02/2020 09:16

And as an aside why wasn't that PA charged with anything after lifting those items?

Because the police let him. He turned up, they let him in, he took stuff and they can't then charge him for something they allowed. They wrongly assumed it was a drowning and therefore the investigating was sloppy.

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