Post by Teddy Bear on Nov 27, 2009 19:22:25 GMT
This item is not strictly about Israel, but it does show the BBC double standard when referring to things Jewish as against things Islamic.
David Mitchell of 'Peep Show' told a 'joke' on a Radio 4 programme he was chairing about Anne Frank - 'Anne Frank’s last diary entry was: “It’s my birthday and dad bought me a drum kit.”'
I actually think that Mitchell is usually a talented humourist, even if not necessarily reflected in this 'joke', and I don't believe he meant any offense, but in the strange times we live in - and the BBC seemingly sensitive only to the Holocaust deniers combined 'don't offend our religion' crowd, it's understandable that some people found it offensive. 50 listeners called or wrote in to complain.
The BBC response was this:
There are also relatively a small number of extremist Muslims living in this country that found the Mohammed cartoons offensive, and considering the millions that would have found them humourous I don't recall the BBC running them.
As for the response “For me it actually captures some of the extraordinary spirit of that remarkable girl, Anne Frank, and there was a certain note of affection towards her. After all she was young and if she was a teenager now she might have got a drum kit. It was satirising the situation they were in. is about as inane as you can get.
What she doesn't seem to get is that she's not a teenager now, and never survived her teenage years then, largely because of something that started then that is very similar to what the BBC is contributing to TODAY.
Radio 4 defends David Mitchell Anne Frank joke
David Mitchell of 'Peep Show' told a 'joke' on a Radio 4 programme he was chairing about Anne Frank - 'Anne Frank’s last diary entry was: “It’s my birthday and dad bought me a drum kit.”'
I actually think that Mitchell is usually a talented humourist, even if not necessarily reflected in this 'joke', and I don't believe he meant any offense, but in the strange times we live in - and the BBC seemingly sensitive only to the Holocaust deniers combined 'don't offend our religion' crowd, it's understandable that some people found it offensive. 50 listeners called or wrote in to complain.
The BBC response was this:
The BBC received almost 50 complaints about the comment, which Gillian Walnes, executive director of the Anne Frank Trust, called “thoughtless” and “offensive”.
Today, Ms Raphael said: “We never broadcast anything to deliberately give people offence and while I do understand and appreciate that some people did find this offensive, I stand by the decision to broadcast it.
“Personally I did find this funny. I don’t think it was trivialising the Holocaust, it wasn’t trivialising the nature of her death or the situation they were in.
“For me it actually captures some of the extraordinary spirit of that remarkable girl, Anne Frank, and there was a certain note of affection towards her. After all she was young and if she was a teenager now she might have got a drum kit. It was satirising the situation they were in.
“We are sorry we distressed them but that slot has millions of listeners and a small proportion were disturbed but I genuinely think the majority found it funny.”
There are also relatively a small number of extremist Muslims living in this country that found the Mohammed cartoons offensive, and considering the millions that would have found them humourous I don't recall the BBC running them.
As for the response “For me it actually captures some of the extraordinary spirit of that remarkable girl, Anne Frank, and there was a certain note of affection towards her. After all she was young and if she was a teenager now she might have got a drum kit. It was satirising the situation they were in. is about as inane as you can get.
What she doesn't seem to get is that she's not a teenager now, and never survived her teenage years then, largely because of something that started then that is very similar to what the BBC is contributing to TODAY.
Radio 4 defends David Mitchell Anne Frank joke