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BP ‘bloody piss-poor’ Mirren tells Letterman
Helen Mirren admits she was ‘relieved’ that England v USA game ended in draw
As Barack Obama prepares for his showdown with BP executives at the White House today, the British actress Dame Helen Mirren has come down firmly on the side of the American president. Mirren, star of The Queen and Prime Suspect, was greeted with loud cheers when she told an American TV audience that the initials BP should stand for "bloody piss-poor".
Mirren, 64, told talk show host David Letterman that she was also relieved that the England v USA world cup match had ended in a draw. Referring to the "British" football team, she confessed that she was "so relieved" the teams drew 1-1.
"I don’t think I could have come on this show," she said, "if Britain had beaten America, what with BP, which to my mind stands for bloody piss-poor... I don’t think I could have come on this show."
After being cut off by a round of applause from the studio audience, she continued: "I'd have been so embarrassed and mortified at being British, I think I'd have had to cancel." ·
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oh come on, cut the girl a break. She's a frail old lady, and they often say whatever they think will please, because they don't really know what's going on. I know I don't, and I'm a few years younger than...what was her name again?
As a Brit I was really embarrased by Helen Mirren's appearance on US tv and her pathetic attempt to toady to the American audience. She comes across as ignorant and ill informed. Can someone tell her that BP America is run predominately by US citizens. The British in the title was dropped when British Petroleum merged with Amoco (the 'A' in Amoco stands for American Helen). Oh and England qualified for the world cup not Britain.
Nothing to be surprised about here. It's par for the course that actors who don't live in the real world and spend their lives dressing up and pretending to be someone or something else always know far better than mere mortals what should be done. Actors along with large portions of the music industry are of course the only ones who care. They have far more compassion and understanding than the rest of us. The people trying to stem the flow of oil. or deal with any other manmade or natural disaster. It doesn't matter that that BP has an almost equal number of American ownership to British or that the failed component was installed and maintained by an American company. Actors care, really they do. Famine "something must be done!" Aids "A cure must be found!" There's always a self serving soundbite and of course if they make a lot of noise on a talk show then they've done their bit, the plebs just have to make it happen.
Perhaps one day Miss Mirren will realise that she's doing a job just like the rest of us. she is just very lucky to be paid huge amounts for playing lets pretend.
Throughout my working life I have attended numerous major disasters and helped the victims. Over a period of 35 years I've heard the injured or just terrified victims cry out for a doctor, nurse, paramedic, police, fire and rescue service, a priest or even their mother. Countless incidents yet never in that time have a heard an injured or trapped casualty call out "For gods sake. Get me an actor. They'll know what to do!"
I also question whether the use of the word British when talking of the football was a mistake. I would hazard a guess that if it was an Irish, Scottish or Welsh team rather than England in the finals Miss Mirren would not have dared to call them British. She would probably have told a tale of a grandparent who lived all their days in a Highland croft being oppressed by the hated English. Maybe she'd have a cousin from Connemarra who'd been crushed by Cromwell. It wouldn't do for her to say she's English and proud of it would it?
She really should check her facts before opening her mouth.
Taken from a website:
..."now hope to be able to clear up the obvious confusion, or just pure ignorance if you wish, about just who 'owns' BP Plc. As of 31st December 2009, as taken from the BP official website, it shows that UK ownership of BP is only marginally larger than US ownership. One large US investor could complete the swing. The simple fact is that BP Plc is NOT a British company, at least no more than it is an American company. It has effectively been Anglo-American since a 1998 merger with Amoco. Apparently BP employs some 96,000 permanent members of staff for the day-to-day operation of the business, of which 10000 are British and 24000 of them are American.
Like America we also have some 'bloody piss-poor' stars, you know, the type that cost a lot to see and can't sing. Now that's moved to acting and we've managed to get one into the USA. Don't bother to send her back, she might teach Obama how to get a response out of the spoken word.
Well Miss Mirren, how about you stay in the USA, get citizenship and then really kick your homeland where it hurts. Just don't bother returning to the UK, we don't want you. And when you become American I hope you visit India and feel doubly ashamed of your new country when asked about Bhopal. You couldn't even get the football right. It was an ENGLISH team not British...
What a front. If she's so embarassed to be British, she should relinquish her title!