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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

How is Jim Davidson not cancelled?

305 replies

donemeover · 20/10/2021 02:27

If you've watched the documentary black and white by Ashley Banjo you will see what I mean.

This man is the most racist man I've seen on TV in recent years.

He's a disgrace.

OP posts:
Ponoka7 · 20/10/2021 08:03

Well he's a freemason and has an OBE, so no doubt friends in high places. I found it shocking that he won big brother in 2014. He was vile while in the house, but women and girls were his target then, so ignored. He admitted to having a blow job from a Transwoman, so that'll make him popular.

blissfulllife · 20/10/2021 08:03

He's not very popular here in the Midlands. Cancelled in Wolverhampton hurrah

StoneofDestiny · 20/10/2021 08:09

I wish people wouldn't say it was acceptable in the eighties or whatever because it really wasn't. Not in our house it wasn't. I was well aware from the 70s onwards about JD and others like him, Benny Hill for instance. My mum didn't approve of 'racialism' or 'chauvinism' as called then. There was nothing exceptional about her - she was from a white northern working class background. So how did she manage to work it out? She can't have been the only one

She wasn't. These objectionable people were recognised as vile in our home too. Unfunny offensive men with pea brained followers.

I watched the Ashley Banjo programme - an impressive man! Jim Davidson presented himself as the racist Neanderthal that he is. Davidson was no match for Banjo, so much so he stormed out of the interview. Banjo has oceans more moral and professional courage than the Davidsons of the world could ever have.

JurgensCakeBaby · 20/10/2021 08:10

My white very working class father from the east end of London said 'if that fucking idiot (JD) walked into the local pub name, he'd get knocked out saying that', I was young so it must've been eighties, and I remember it clearly because whilst I'm sure his language was colourful with his friends, my dad never swore in front of us.
I also live in a seaside town with a theatre with a popular panto, friends and older colleagues who were dancers in their youth have all described him as lecherous, one said to me she's very very surprised yewtree haven't been after him yet.

Aquafizzle · 20/10/2021 08:12

@MrsRobbieHart

Cancelled in what way? You can’t cancel people. They’re allowed to exist. Even the vile ones.
You know that the term is used to describe removing attention and a public platform from people right?

It doesn't mean they cease to exist.

Are you really that confused about a simple concept?

PackedintheUK · 20/10/2021 08:13

I don't hold with cancelling people. Let them have their say so it can be challenged. You don't help anyone by letting these people believe their freedom of speech has been curtailed. Their views (and those of their fans) don't change, they just become more convinced they're right.

But JD was cancelled years ago. It's a very long time since he's been on TV.

StoneofDestiny · 20/10/2021 08:14

Well he's a freemason and has an OBE, so no doubt friends in high places

The men only Freemasons - where he got his male audience and bookings from. The second is another reason why these awards should be ditched......how could anybody think his line in 'comedy' was worth awarding?

rrhuth · 20/10/2021 08:16

@PackedintheUK

I don't hold with cancelling people. Let them have their say so it can be challenged. You don't help anyone by letting these people believe their freedom of speech has been curtailed. Their views (and those of their fans) don't change, they just become more convinced they're right.

But JD was cancelled years ago. It's a very long time since he's been on TV.

No one gets cancelled, they just don't get booked.

It would be pretty stupid to have to book someone like Jim Davidson just to stop other people moaning about free speech Confused

I've really lost patience with the whinging idiots. Set up a Jim Davidson theatre if you're that bothered. I don't care if they think they're right. They need to try harder to understand the real world.

SpiderinaWingMirror · 20/10/2021 08:40

I'm not shocked by him. I disapprove of him massively, and his ilk. But he is a reflection of a society where bananas are thrown at black football players. And that is the issue. People who see black people as "less than".

CherryHug · 20/10/2021 08:42

Difference between RCB and JD is that RCB's on stage persona is a complete act. JD is actually that much of a cunt in real life. And is proud of it. He wouldn't care if he was cancelled or not. Still spouts his poison.

LouiseBelchersBunnyEars · 20/10/2021 08:43

@rrhuth

You can't cancel someone, 'cancel culture' has been invented by the right as part of their bullshit culture wars.

People can be de-platformed, which IMO is fine - if I have control of an organisation, I can organise it in three ways:

  • to suit myself
  • to suit the members
  • to suit the users/customers/clients

Organisations where members say 'we don't want this person' are not doing anything wrong.

Those who do want a particular event can organise anything they like in line with the law, and publish on YouTube, Facebook, Twitter.

Free speech exists in this country just fine. As evidenced by the amount of shit posted everyday on every platform.

It is just that racists etc. are upset their views are now minority/unwanted.

I thought that’s exactly what ‘cancelling’ was though? A conscious and deliberate attempt of ensuring an individual is ‘de-platformed’ consistently. It’s definitely a tactic used, it’s certainly not an ‘invented’ concept.

I don’t agree with it myself, I’m more of a ‘let what they say stand and challenge it’ type of person.

I think the replies on here about ‘he’s not being cancelled, he’s just not being booked’ are obtuse though, you know exactly what is meant by ‘cancelling’ as a concept

knittingaddict · 20/10/2021 08:49

@Technosaurus

I can't stand Roy Chubby Brown but I signed the petition - it's ridiculous that they cancelled his gigs. I don't like his patter so I don't go to his shows, but that doesn't mean others should be banned from doing so.

By the same logic I can't stand jazz music so I don't go to jazz gigs either, but I wouldn't ban them for the small minority who do like it.

Same with Jim Davidson really. Awful man, wouldn't get the steam off my piss, but if others want to give him £25 of their hard earned money for 2 hours of his "act", that's totally up to them

I think you've zoomed right passed the point there. It's not about liking or disliking. It's about some views being totally unacceptable, such as racism and misogyny. I'm very happy for men like this to have their worlds close in around them and their opportunities get smaller and smaller. Let them feel like the dinosaurs they really are.

There is no problem with jazz that needs addressing.

Mellowfruitfulnessy · 20/10/2021 08:51

JD does loads of gigs in seaside towns and has a massive following. He’s always been awful. He used to come to my town and ask all the teen girls for blowjobs. He was well known.

donemeover · 20/10/2021 08:59

[quote Rubyupbeat]@donemeover
What channel is the documentary on, please?[/quote]
ITV, honestly if you see what he said about diversity's dance, black people and Ashley Banjo you'd be very shocked

OP posts:
donemeover · 20/10/2021 09:00

@deeni

Agreed. I don't like sexist and racist jokes and never found these sorts of comedians funny. But I also don't like "cancel culture".

Demanding bans doesn't stop people having these attitudes unfortunately.

He wasn't being racist in his comedy - it was a conversation he was having about how he felt about the BLM dance Ashley banjo did.
OP posts:
CorrBlimeyGG · 20/10/2021 09:02

Davidson does a good job of cancelling himself. The more he opens his mouth the less people will defend him. Although I've no doubt there will be people defending last night's interview, with no substance to their viewpoint, just "tellin' it like it is".

CorrBlimeyGG · 20/10/2021 09:05

And here's one of his Twitter followers:

I’ll be watching!! I’m sure totally biased editing! Credit to @JimDOfficial for agreeing to even meet him, I knew it was gonna be a personal attack, I for one think you say what a lot of people are thinking but can’t say due to being labelled RACIST

Bumblenums1234 · 20/10/2021 09:08

I don't even know who he is 🤣

HintofVintagePink · 20/10/2021 09:15

@SantasCat

Shocked to say I saw an advert recently advertising his latest show at a theatre near me.
I think we may live in the same area @SantasCat. I was surprised that venue would book him.

Unless I didn’t read the advertisement closely enough and he is in fact on tour at multiple venues… Confused

He’s not funny and never has been. He’s coarse, crude, sexist and racist.

MrsTulipTattsyrup · 20/10/2021 09:20

@HollyBollyBooBoo

He's not been on tv since about 2007 though so not sure as that's recent! Can't imagine anyone signing him up for any shows nowadays.
He might not be on tele any more but he still tours. He as an individual is vile, but more worrying are that there are numbers of people who are prepared to pay money to see him ‘perform’ live. It’s an indication of how many there are out there who share his views.

I know that one show locally was called off because there had been protests, and therefore sales weren’t sufficient, but clearly there are parts of the country where his views are more widely shared. Yet again legitimising them, sadly.

mustlovegin · 20/10/2021 09:28

I thought that’s exactly what ‘cancelling’ was though?
A conscious and deliberate attempt of ensuring an individual is ‘de-platformed’ consistently. It’s definitely a tactic used, it’s certainly not an ‘invented’ concept

^This. Don't try to pull yet another attempt of mental gymnastics to pretend cancelling doesn't exist

Clarefromwork · 20/10/2021 09:33

He won celebrity big brother in 2014, I can’t remember much of what he was like in it as I used to watch it back then. I do remember him making one of the Nolan sisters look mad for having beef with him from the start. Guess she knew more about him and what he was really like.

daimbarsatemydogsbone · 20/10/2021 09:34

cancel culture' has been invented by the right as part of their bullshit culture wars

Is this true?

I thought it was a term for the insta generation for people who should be hounded off SM like the attacks on JK Rowling?

I am open to hearing how it was coined by “the right” though - please post some more details.

mustlovegin · 20/10/2021 09:35

ITV documentary Ashley Banjo: Britain in Black and White

I haven't watched the documentary, but going by the excerpts taken from the interview, it appears that the documentary's objective was to stir up controversy and cause division. Also I haven't seen any of J Davidson's previous work, but his responses in this particular interview appeared to be quite restrained? He looked like he was ambushed by the production team and the interviewer as he is probably seen as an easy target. He should never have agreed to do it. Others will likely learn from his mistake and act accordingly

daimbarsatemydogsbone · 20/10/2021 09:37

Another one here who’s parents didn’t approve of racist “entertainment”. Probably the most buried is early Monty Python which was deeply sexist and racist but gets forgotten due to them cleaning up their act a bit in later years.