Comic Relief or Comic Flop?

I must admit I didn't watch the entire BBC 1 Comic Relief output but I definitely saw enough.

I laughed out loud at two bits - the first was the Master Chef sketch with Dame Edna in it, I just think s/he is brilliant and the second was when James Corden introduced "David who went to school in a mankini, yes he's a primary school teacher... now under surveillence by Social Services..." or some such similar wording.  Hilarious.

What was not quite so hilarious, or in fact not hilarious at all, was the Peter Kay sketch.  Don't get me wrong Peter Kay is one of the funniest people around and I liked the idea that he was doing the opposite to what everyone else does on Comic Relief day ie instead of being active he was doing a sit in.

But that for me was where the humour ended as he was shown being pulled around the country by a group of short statured people.  Why by short people? It was simply unfunny, demeaning and stupid.

As short statured actress Kiruna Stamell points out in her open letter to the BBC/Comic Relief [see link below] some of the money Comic Relief raises goes to anti-bullying projects - but where's the positive representation of short statured people in the Peter Kay sketch?  How would a short statured child have felt about watching that I wonder?

Apparently Zoe Ball also thought it hilarious to make a joke about 'midgets' and Ricky Gervais managed to add his tuppence to deriding disabled people too.

Where are all their quips and digs at black people, gay people, women?  Nowhere that's where.  So why do these comedians/presenters think it's still OK to insult and dehumanise disabled people/short people in the name of humour?

When I challenged the Comic Relief press office on this, this was their total brush off of a response:

Comic Relief aims to raise as much money as possible to help vulnerable people here in the UK and in the world’s poorest countries. The night of television is a light hearted and entertaining programme which does not aim to offend. The BBC has full editorial control of all content on BBC channels and platforms and  the programme is made by the BBC, not Comic Relief.  Please contact the BBC with enquiries about the night of television.

I was insulted for the first time in my life on Saturday purely on the basis of being short statured, coincidence after Comic Relief's coverage on Friday?  You decide.


To read Kiruna's letter to the BBC/Comic relief in full follow this link, she's going to make an official complaint but I suspect she'll get the usual response along the lines of the above:


http://kirunastamell.net/2013/03/16/dear-bbc-and-comic-relief/

Disability hate crime

I was sent my monthly e mail from Mencap [a charity supporting people with learning difficulties] which highlighted the fact that this week is Learning Disability Week.

As part of the week Mencap is launching its 'Stand By Me' campaign to stop disability hate crime.

Yes in this modern world we still have people who will pick on, harass and even murder people based on their perceived ability. That fact is nothing short of shocking really and what it has to come down to is ignorance.

For starters children don't get taught about disability much in schools. Then cildren and adults often don't have a lot of contact with people with learning difficulties [or disabled people generally for that matter].

This lack of education and contact turns into prejudice, which is when unfavourable opinions or thoughts are formed without knowledge, thought or reason...

Until children and adults are really educated about disability this will be a never ending problem.

To find out more about Learning Disability Week:
www.mencap.org.uk/news/article/it-s-learning-disability-week