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‘Spoon-faced’ Adlington slams BBC for Boyle joke
Rebecca Adlington’s agent has attacked the BBC Trust for failing to punish comedian Frankie Boyle’s rude joke
The row over the comedian Frankie Boyle likening the Olympic gold-medallist Rebecca Adlington to "someone looking at themselves in the back of a spoon" on a BBC2 satirical show is not going away. After the BBC Trust gave Boyle a telling off, Adlington's agent has criticised the Trust for failing to take stronger action.
Boyle's comment was made on Mock the Week last year when the Olympians were returning home from Beijing. He followed up the "back of a spoon" comment by saying: "Did you see her boyfriend? He was really attractive. He was like a male model. So from that I have deduced that Rebecca Adlington is very dirty."
After 75 people wrote in to complain. Last month, the Trust finally ruled that the Scottish comedian's remarks were offensive and humiliating. But no further action was taken against him - and Rob Woodhouse, Adlington's agent, is furious.
"The BBC needs to take more responsibility for the people it employs to ensure that they uphold the highest of standards," said Woodhouse. "To say what Frankie Boyle did about Rebecca, who was only 19 at the time, was disgusting. It seems that the defence of him from others is that he is a comedian and that's what they do. But attacking a young woman like this wasn't funny, it was disgraceful. It's not acceptable in any form."
Woodhouse said the BBC should have banned Boyle from appearing on their channels, just as they did Jonathan Ross and Russell Brand. "Essentially, he was given a slap on the wrist and there are no real implications for him. For a comedian or any sort of performer, the media is their promotional vehicle. If the BBC chose to remove the oxygen of publicity and stopped him appearing in their shows, then maybe that could act as a deterrent."
Boyle, however, is unrepentant, and blamed the producers of Mock the Week for requesting flippant gags about the returning Olympians, instead of comic insights about more serious topics such as swine flu and global recession.
During an interview with Time Out, he slammed the BBC Trust's findings. "Can you imagine anyone reading that and actually giving a fuck? It's disheartening. Who are these people? What authority do they have to judge comedy? There are bridges people shouldn't be allowed to cross, but it now feels like we're back in the 1970s in terms of compliance.
"The number one priority in TV comedy today is 'Don't frighten the horses', and it's probably number two and three as well. If you look at the scheduling nowadays, it's all just celebrities meeting meerkats." ·
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The comment by Frankie Boyle might have been funnier if it were true.
To my mind, Pete Townsend of The Who is, or was, the perfect back-of-a-spoon image. Try looking at yourself in the back of a spoon, (and that goes for you, too, Mr Boyle); I guarantee you will bear a passing resemblance to Mr Townsend; all men do.
Shame on Frankie Boyle. May he hang himself just as the man did who made a similar slur against me when I was her age. It's people who hate themselves that make such comments about others. He needs to be on suicide watch. Or not.
But Adlington *does* look like all of the above - and a very attractive young woman she is too.
Oh - and Frankie Boyle is by far and away the funniest on TV at the mo, precisely because he pushes the limit of dominant-mode "taste" as defined by some of the commentarists above.
You lot - kindly remove your own head from your own arse before posting again.
What should the BBC have done exactly? Frankie Boyle made a light-hearted comment that 75 people complained about, it may have been uncharitable to Rebecca Adlington (who isn't ugly IMHO) but to ask for Frankie to be banned would have been a gross over-reaction on the part of the BBC.
Miss Adlington is a beautiful young lady with Augustan features, and world renowned. Screw Mr. Boyle. I thought that a 'comedian from Galsgow' was a contradiction in terms anyhow.
Woodhouse is confused, Ross hasn't been banned, in fact he was exuding his brand of speech-impaired cockny sleeze only the other day when I flipped past. This is all part of the fascistic impulse to ban and restrict freedom, and whether someone is a heroin addict or not - and William Burroughs was one for decades and produced some stunning work, much of it highly comedic - makes no difference. I think too many people are taking their cue from Muslims, who have learned if they scream loudly they usually get their own way, and modern, secular, liberal society complies with their strident demands for censorship. ALL celebrities are fair game, they put themselves in the public sphere, trade on their celebrity, make loads of money from it, and then have a hissy fit if they are derided. Well tough, get over it or get out of the kitchen. Swap celebrity for a low profile, normal life of anonymity and no one will mock you. Easy really.
Neill McGowan, you seem to have an agenda, and go off on a tangent constantly, your post had nothing to do with the story or the wider issue. You appear somewhat deranged by hatred for certain people. You may get an ulcer if you continue without treatment.
Another nail in the BBC coffin. It will be good to see the left-wing, everything goes, no taste or sense BBC brought to account by the next Government.
Boyle is a sad useless wanker with a heroin addiction problem. He says he wants to "give up doing comedy", presumably to give himself more time to do smack instead - I think the BBC should support this plan, and deny him the chance to do any more "comedy".