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AIBU?

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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:
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6
NemophilistRebel · 10/02/2020 17:01

unfortunately so many unsolved (or even solved) cases have monumental police incompetence being the number 1 reason the correct person isn't convicted.

You would think they would have learnt lessons from previous, and its not just uk police, its all over.

All the recent documentaries and dramatisations -

The White House Farm - police cock ups
Amanda Knox
Madeline McCann

The police are a major cause of issues from the beginning.

wetpants · 10/02/2020 17:10

Madeline McCann Just popping in to say that it wasn’t the police who cocked it up, as much as British press and McCann’s would like you to believe. McCanns let their friends trample all over the hotel apartment before they alerted the police. And the police had every right to think that it was a simple case of child wandering off rather than something more sinister.

Back to MB, I remember when this happened and in my mind it was reported it was a gay party gone wrong but SL’s family firmly denying he was gay.

KatherineJaneway · 10/02/2020 18:12

and in my mind it was reported it was a gay party gone wrong but SL’s family firmly denying he was gay.

Yes, I remember at the time it was insinuated that if he wasn't gay, why did he attend the party at MB's house.

Jimineycricket · 10/02/2020 19:22

It was a bungled investigation. I think they got there, saw everyone was drugged and boozed up and thought it was a “simple” drowning and the scene wasn’t immediately sealed and the witnesses/suspects weren’t treated as such. It wasn’t till the autopsy that questions were raised. I strongly suspect the police have a VERY strong suspicion of exactly who was responsible but there just isn’t strong enough evidence now to bring whoever it was to trial UNLESS someone talks ( hence the reward) it may also be that one of the other makes deliberately invited themselves back with Barrymore and Lubbock intending to do something knowing Barrymore was so out of it they could easily get away with it - the taxi driver said he thought they were gatecrashing his house and had concerns. On a different note I never liked Barrymores presenting style of humiliating and basically sexually assaulting his guests, it seemed cruel. I remember seeing little Britain live about 15 years ago, David Walliams invited a man up on stage and proceeded to try and pulls his jeans and boxers down, the poor man was clearly extremely embarrassed and uncomfortable and said no, Walliams was totally over excited (aroused) and they ended up wrestling on the floor. And the man was not messing around. I clearly remember feeling extremely uncomfortable and uneasy about it. Certain celebrities seem to think as they are “famous” then their attentions should be welcomed.

Jimineycricket · 10/02/2020 19:37

And don’t get me started on MB’s attempt to blame the doctors/nurses for the injuries found on Stuart Lubbock. That’s just awful dissembling. What a piece of work he is.

MuchBetterNow · 10/02/2020 19:45

The people who attended the “party” looked bizarre at the inquest, like 5 people who met at a bus stop. Barrymore may have been in the habit of collecting randoms and taking them home, it’s possible someone from a previous gathering might have valuable information and now there’s a decent reward they could be persuaded to talk.

DonKeyshot · 10/02/2020 19:47

Blaming hospital/morgue workers for Stuart Lubbock's injuries is one of the more disgraceful pieces of obfuscation, Jiminey , but this knowledge of autopsy procedures serves to convince me that there may have been a bent copper involved..

category12 · 10/02/2020 20:04

Oh I don't think a bent copper is needed for that - Barrymore's legal team would have the knowledge/resources to come up with a load of old flannel like that on their own.

Sexnotgender · 10/02/2020 20:16

Wow, I was in my teens when this happened and just thought it was an accident. This thread is certainly enlightening!! I need to go and watch the documentary.

MarthasGinYard · 10/02/2020 23:02

Just watched the bit I missed

They look like shifty scumbags the lot of them arriving at court

Vintagehearts · 10/02/2020 23:20

I found the part in the documentary where he went on tv to imply that the anal injuries happened after stuart was taken to hospital quite disturbing. He was clearly clutching at straws to shy away from any guilt and revive his own career. The fact he stooped so low by making out he had some "ground breaking " new evidence was a nothing more than a cheap shot at diverting any blame on himself.

He lost his career because he lied and is still lying now.

Iamthewombat · 11/02/2020 00:05

They look like shifty scumbags the lot of them arriving at court

Too right. Somebody upthread described Justin Merritt, the unemployed bin man who apparently volunteered to do Barrymore’s security after meeting him outside the club that night, as looking ‘dodgy as fuck’, and he does. So does his sister, Kylie Merritt. The taxi driver said in his statement that they had the air of gatecrashers.

They look like chancers who glommed on to Barrymore and his boyfriend because they thought that they might get a few bob out of it, maybe by becoming his dealers, or bask in a bit of reflected fame, which is pretty tragic: Barrymore was halfway to being washed up already in 2001, before any of this happened.

I can see somebody keen to befriend a celebrity, even a pathetic one like Barrymore, going along with an assault, perhaps holding the victim down and/or cheering on the assailants then helping to hide the evidence. I bet the police think so, too.

Iamthewombat · 11/02/2020 00:10

As for Barrymore crying on that Piers Morgan interview: it’s just chilling. He was crying for his own crap career, which he’s spent almost 20 years attempting to revive, not realising that even if he was squeaky clean he’d still be over. No tears for the Lubbock family.

I was struck by the dignity of Terry Lubbock. He’s not a well-educated man, and he’s not especially articulate, but crikey did he make his point clearly and effectively.

JavaQ · 11/02/2020 00:46

Michael Barrymore and Philip Scofield...marrying and then taking up royal duties to replace H and Meg. Imagine!

GlummyMcGlummerson · 11/02/2020 00:56

I get what you mean OP - these days we are (thankfully) less forgiving when celebrities fuck up and criminal acts do finally seem to affect people's careers.

However 20 years ago it wasn't anything like that - Mike Tyson raped a woman and it barely got mentioned. Mark Wahlberg has carried out various racist assaults including on children. Matthew Broderick and Jennifer Grey killed someone with their car. They also barely got mentioned. But at a time long before celeb "shaming" for some reason Michael Barrymore was ruined. And honestly - I think it's homophobia. Nobody would have given a shit if a woman had died in the pool. Same with Julian Clary - a fisting joke ensured we didn't work for years. The press and public just wait in the wings for an excuse to hate on gay people and there they had it

GlummyMcGlummerson · 11/02/2020 00:57

Although given Barrymore's conduct in the whole thing that PP have touched on, I have very little sympathy for the man

KatherineJaneway · 11/02/2020 02:13

Mike Tyson raped a woman and it barely got mentioned

Have to disagree with you there, that case and trial garnered huge media attention and he was found guilty.

bettybeans · 11/02/2020 02:42

Barrymore knows exactly what happened that night. If he’s demonstrated anything at all it’s that he’s willing to say or do anything at all to try and save himself and resurrect a dead TV career.

I think they (whoever within that group) got Stuart messed up on various drugs, took advantage, got carried away and accidentally killed him then panicked and covered it up by chucking him in the pool. They didn’t do it alone either. The new documentary will hopefully put pressure on the people who were there to finally speak up and say what they haven’t said for all these years.

othervoicesotherrooms · 11/02/2020 03:24

Barrymore is the absolute worst.

Still don't understand why his 'entertainment' act was so popular.
He was an arrogant, nasty piece of work back then.

I hated him at the time and I hate him even more now.

sashh · 11/02/2020 06:35

I also think the swimming shorts was bizarre.

Men pee in front of each other, if you were going in the hot tub surely you'd just get in naked or in your underwear, not go get changed into someone else's shorts.

Also March? Is the pool heated? Because outdoor pools are usually covered in winter.

The use of the thermometer in the hospital and the ressus process implies he was cold when he arrived at the hospital.

Pulpfiction1 · 11/02/2020 07:13

Also March? Is the pool heated? Because outdoor pools are usually covered in winter.

Bm claimes the pool had been opened and heated but police say the water was ice cold so clearly it had not been. Another one of bm's lies.

category12 · 11/02/2020 08:00

Have to disagree with you there, that case and trial garnered huge media attention and he was found guilty.

Despite being 25, Tyson went to a youth center and served less than half of his sentence. Once he was out, he was able to pick up film work and all sorts. Confused I call that pretty scot-free for rape.

sashh · 11/02/2020 08:46

Tyson also never paid his victim the compensation awarded by the court.

BeyondReasonablyDoubtsLots · 11/02/2020 10:22

Having once gone back from a pub to use a strangers pool (yes I know how stupid this was!) I went in in my underwear.

I had a thought though. If the pool was cold, is there any chance that time of death is way off?

aroundtheworldyet · 11/02/2020 10:37

I don’t think they would get the time of death wrong.
But it’s clear that larking around in a freezing cold pool isn’t really what most people do in March. Certainly not for an extended period of time. You might jump in wearing your pants as a joke, but you’d hop skip it out of there ASAP!
For some reason in my mind this all happened in summer. Must be because I imagined the whole pool scenario differently

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