Channel 4 please apologise on air

[dontplaymepayme]

Hello there,

I'm mum to two children both disabled and my mum is in end stage alzheimers.
All three of them have been on the receiving end of hateful behaviour.
I called for a public apology from Channel 4, Vinnie Jones and Davina McCall for their "retard" comments live on air On Big Brothers Big Mouth on 29th Jan 2010
Vinnie Jones said that Davina walked like a "retard" and then demonstrated what he meant and Davina Laughed loudly and said "I don't walk like a retard".
I complained to channel 4 and Ofcom (who have not upheld my complaint)and it took channel4 ten days to take the programme down from their 4OD channel.
I have the backing of MENCAP in this call.
Disability hate crime begins with verbal abuse and the audience watching it will have been made up of young people who seeing celebrities behaving this way will copy them.
Here is the link to a piece about this
www.littlewhitelies.co.uk/blog/chanel-4-disablism/
Please let me know your thoughts, it's not political correctness it's asking that disabled people be given the same rights as race and religion when it comes to hateful behaviour.
Many thanks

reta.rd is an awful word. Yes they should be told how offensive many find it .It is the only way to make them stop

Sorry here is the linkwww.littlewhitelies.co.uk/blog/chanel-4-disablism/

I totally totally agree with ths!!! ABSOLUTELY, I am a mummy of a NT DD, 8 and a severely disabled DS, who will be 3 in a couple of weeks, and ths is deeply deeply upsetting and I take offence to this as if they are talking about my DS, I am with u all the way on this xx

Did you contact vinnie jones and davina mcall (assume they have fan sites or via c4 or however) to explain to them also why this is highly offensive?

If not, that would be a good thing to do too.

i don't watch any of the BB shit so this totally escaped me.
but just reading your description has left me fuming.

it disgusts me that it is still deemed acceptable to speak so offensively about the disabled but not so with so many other minorities.

if he had told her she walked like a "nigger" or "queer" ori don't know i can't think of any more. but you know what i mean. the show would have been pulled. everyone would have had irt over front page news and all involved would have had to beg and scrape to save their careers.

this sis so so wrong. and to think that only this week there was a show about the lady who killed herself and her daughter over the torment or abuse she was receiving because she had learning difficulties.

i am stunned that Ofcom have not upheld this complaint.
maybe its because the disabled don't stamp their feet as loudly as other groups. or maybe its because to the rest of the world they are still considered a joke so their opinion doesn't matter.

i am so so angry

Thank you so much for the replies. This is really supportive forum. Yes heQet I did contact them, by phone in the end as my emails were not replied to. The response is in this link www.littlewhitelies.co.uk/blog/chanel-4-disablism/

Not great to be honest.

It's Hypocritical to notice that Davina is getting lots of press by participating in sports relief which supports disability projects.

aggree with you 100%
I can't complain as i didn't see the programme

Missed it but agree. I'll follow link later when on computer.

Are there direct links we can complain via? I'll add it to FB - ime numbers make an impact so we need to get as many people complaining to one address as possible. Maybe a FB group would help as well?

Well done DON`T,this is the kind of rubbish that leads to tragedy.A parent or sibling could be having a bad day and then they see that.It is very uncool of these presenters,very unproffesional,as for Davina she should thank her lucky stars she has three beautiful and healthy children

I had no idea this had happened as I don't watch BB.

But this is truly despicable.

Davina is on Twitter, you could send her a private message if you are on there.

Hi there I contacted a few charities about hate crime and one of them decided to set up a facebook page as I was swamped with the press releases and the caring for mum and girls.

www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=301643650888&ref=mf

It was originally aimed at channel 4 but they changed the name to target ofcom after I got my letter saying they weren't upholding my complaint!! they said it was because it was in the context of a light hearted show. Shocking.

I still feel an on air apology is the only way for channel 4 yo demonstrate that they really regret the incident. I've been tweeting like mad! On twitter go to @dontplaymepayme or @pogoagogo and you'll find the link.

Thank you so much everyone. nik

Oh so if it's light hearted, that's OK then? NOT!

Good grief yes you're right to take this further. Hate that word, and cripple too (Gah, even hate WRITING that!)

Didn't see it, but as Riven said, it's BB, and I for one am glad it's gonna end!

I've joined the FB group. Have complained to Channel 4 who have apologised but not on air, and Vinnie Jones's 'people' have apologised, (don't think Davina's have) but it isn't enough. Ofcom is my next target and even if they won't do anything, we can make our feelings known and maybe prevent anything like this happening again.

Imagine the stink if the comment was racist!! But of course, we don't count, our families don't count and hate crimes against disabled people don't seem to count. I switched off CBB the moment it was said and won't be watching again.

have joined the group