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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

What is the difference between Giles Coren celebrating Dawn Foster's death and the tweet this man mocking the death of Captain Tom?

25 replies

FlirtyKirti · 20/12/2021 08:47

Can anyone explain the legal difference between this man mocking Captain Tom's death and Giles Coren saying he wished a fellow journalist, Dawn Foster, would burn in hell when she died at the age of 33?

Giles Coren seems to have suffered no professional or personal consequences whatsoever and has made no public apology for or acknowledgement of what he did, whereas this guy was charged and is being prosecuted. Why is that?

www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9273781/amp/Pictured-Celtic-fan-35-charged-offensive-tweet-Captain-Tom-Moore.html

www.thenational.scot/news/19457975.giles-coren-slammed-sickening-comment-death-journalist-dawn-foster/

Joseph Kelly, from Glasgow, was charged under the Communications Act 2003, which outlaws "grossly offensive" messages, but why wasn't Giles Coren? Is it because Captain Tom attained national treasure status and captured the nation's hearts during the pandemic, whereas Dawn Foster isn't really known? Can any lawyers shed any light on this?

OP posts:

Lockheart · 20/12/2021 08:51

I'm not familiar with the law on this point but I would guess it had something to do with the remarks about British soldiers in the first tweet.

loopyapp · 20/12/2021 09:00

That and the fact she apparently went after him first and said some unsavoury things about his family. Two wrongs absolutely don't make a right but the two situations you're trying to compare are like apples and oranges .. they're both kinda round and that's it.

steff13 · 20/12/2021 09:06

Also, the Act you're referring to says prosecutors should consider whether swift and effective action was taken to remove the communication. It looks like Giles Corbin removed the tweet. Did the other guy?

RufustheFloralmissingreindeer · 20/12/2021 09:07

@loopyapp

My understanding is that she said he had a famous dad (saying giles didn’t get there on his own talent so a comment on him and not his family )

Did she say anything else or was that it?

steff13 · 20/12/2021 09:11

I think there's a difference between making an offensive comment about someone you've have beef with in the past, and making an offensive comment about an entire group of people. They just aren't the, IMO.

roarfeckingroarr · 20/12/2021 09:11

You're obsessed with Giles Coren.

loopyapp · 20/12/2021 09:12

@RufustheFloralmissingreindeer it was a bit more than that, the whole tone of what she said was most certainly in the vein of only being where he is because who his father is and then some unpleasantness about the sort of family they are.

I won't condone what he said, he was impulsive and stupid but Cpt Tom Moore hasn't made a name for himself being a bit of an unnecessary bully or targeted people he didn't like with lies ... I'm addition to which in that case the offender also said some awful tunes about service men and women and refused to remove it.

Giles took it down almost immediately and apologised.

Apples and oranges.

RufustheFloralmissingreindeer · 20/12/2021 09:14

[quote loopyapp]@RufustheFloralmissingreindeer it was a bit more than that, the whole tone of what she said was most certainly in the vein of only being where he is because who his father is and then some unpleasantness about the sort of family they are.

Giles took it down almost immediately and apologised.

Apples and oranges.[/quote]
I don’t doubt it

But I can’t find what she said, just reports of what she said

Do you have a link to the actual tweet

And i agree it was a dig at him, but I can’t find the ‘type of family’ bit…off to work in a minute in case you find it

WhatScratch · 20/12/2021 09:18

She said this

What is the difference between Giles Coren celebrating Dawn Foster's death and the tweet this man mocking the death of Captain Tom?

VladmirsPoutine · 20/12/2021 09:26

I think it's because people like Giles rarely if at all face the consequence of their actions. It just doesn't work like that. Short of literally sexually assaulting a kitten on the One Show people like Coren are generally exempt from rules and judgement.

JackieCollinshasnoauthority · 20/12/2021 09:32

I miss Dawn Foster. I'm sure she would have plenty of insight into why Giles Coren can tweet horrible things with impunity.

Samcro · 20/12/2021 09:33

op for some one who says they dislike GC you seem to like giving him publicity by starting threads about him.

Original poster

FlirtyKirti · 20/12/2021 10:06

I am genuinely interested in why some people in the media are seemingly untouchable and can behave with absolute impunity. I read about this story in a newspaper in a pub over the weekend and am genuinely interested as it sounded so similar to the Dawn Foster tweet since it concerned using Twitter to publicly wish someone who had recently died would burn in hell. I have no legal background at all though and wondered what the difference was between the tweets. Would the man from Glasgow being charged have been brought about by a public complaint and the trial have been brought by CPS, and could Dawn Foster's family have brought about a similar charge and prosecution if they'd complained to the police? Giles Coren's tweet did upset her grieving mother. If my child died and a celebrity tweeted me to say "HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA" and then an hour later to say they wished they'd burn in hell, I think ai would complain to the police.

OP posts:

housemaus · 20/12/2021 10:43

Part of my guess would be that Giles Coren, while an odious cunt, has good connections. The other part would be that while Coren's tweet was specifically aimed at one person, the other loosely expresses a desire to see all British soldiers dead (or it could be argued that way).

To be honest, while both tweets were in very poor taste, I don't think anyone should be charged for those specific sentiments. Wishing someone was dead, or being glad someone is dead, isn't nice, but it's not necessarily dangerous.

housemaus · 20/12/2021 10:44

@JackieCollinshasnoauthority

I miss Dawn Foster. I'm sure she would have plenty of insight into why Giles Coren can tweet horrible things with impunity.

Agreed. Hell of a journalist.

TangledUp789 · 20/12/2021 10:48

They’re very different tweets. The first guy wants all British soldiers dead and is gloating over the death of someone who has done nothing to harm him (I don’t care about the latter comment but I think the former, about soldiers, is menacing and stirs up hatred).

Giles Coren is gloating over the death of someone who was horrible to him online (and I can’t blame him for that, I’d feel the same TBH). It’s not like he said ‘the only good journalist is a dead one’. He also apologised for what he said.

Original poster

FlirtyKirti · 20/12/2021 10:51

@loopyapp I don't think GC ever did apologise. I think he just ignored it and hoped it would go away. One blog at the time described him as "the Keyser Söze of shit heads".

@housemaus I agree with you. I don't think anyone should have been prosecuted over either incident. I just wondered why this guy was and Giles Coren wasn't as the two scenarios seemed so similar. I wonder if the prosecution was brought about by CPS because of a complaint by Captain Tom's family. Also, yes Dawn Foster was magnificent. May she rest in power.

OP posts:

Toplowlight · 20/12/2021 10:57

YANBU. Giles Coren is an odd little bully with a hair trigger temper and an astronomical ego which is inversely proportional to the meagre scraps of talent underpinning it. And yet, despite the fact that he must be profoundly difficult to work with and produces, at best, mediocrity, he seems to have an astonishing level of support from his employers. It can only be because he is clinging to the coattails of his far more talented and decent relatives.

He must know that he has to defend his abilities so vociferously because they don’t speak for themselves.

daimbarsatemydogsbone · 20/12/2021 10:58

someone who was horrible to him online

Where does this narrative come from?
He's a vile odious twerp - he has dished out far far worse than Dawn Foster's quite mild and actually quite humorous single tweet.

Onehotmessiah · 20/12/2021 11:57

He also described a holiday with his 3 year old daughter as the ‘the most romantic…sexiest.. holiday of my life.” And described her beauty like you would a sexual partner. Oh and said he turns the air con on so she would have to hold him in bed. WTAF

LakieLady · 20/12/2021 12:02

Giles Coren is an odious, entitled twat and Dawn Foster was worth 10 of him.

MorningStarling · 20/12/2021 12:09

To my knowledge Captain Tom hadn't directly criticised the person who attacked him.

The Joseph Kelly comment was sectarian rubbish, "the only good British soldier is a dead one" type of thing.

The Coren one was a direct response to a person who had been critical of him. No different to all those twats who tried to make "Ding, Dong the Witch is Dead" number one when Thatcher died.

JuergenSchwarzwald · 20/12/2021 12:45

I don't think Giles Coren named anyone in his tweet, but everyone who knew the history knew who he was referring to.

Original poster

FlirtyKirti · 20/12/2021 14:33

Can anyone think of any other presenter that still regularly appears on the BBC who has behaved in a similarly reprehensible manner with absolutely no consequences?

OP posts:

fourdayholiday · 20/12/2021 14:36

No one should celebrate a person's death. I won't even celebrate Boris Johnson's death when it happens, never celebrated Harold Shipman or Fred West dying.

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