Ofcom has announced that it will not probe further into comedienne Jo Brand suggesting people throw battery acid at politicians during a radio programme.
The ‘joke’ was aired on BBC Radio 4’s Heresy show in June, after a number of right-wing political candidates, notably Nigel Farage, had had milkshakes thrown over them by leftist activists during the May European Parliament elections.
Ms Brand had criticised those throwing milkshakes — not because assault is wrong, but because milkshakes were “pathetic” and suggested throwing something stronger.
The comedienne had said:
Certain unpleasant characters are being thrown to the fore, and they’re very, very easy to hate, and I’m kind of thinking, why bother with a milkshake when you could get some battery acid?
That’s just me, sorry, I’m not gonna do it, it’s purely a fantasy, but I think milk shakes are pathetic, I honestly do. Sorry.
Shortly thereafter, the Metropolitan Police Service confirmed it was investigating the remarks following complaints that they were an incitement to violence. But the force later said it would be taking no further action.
Broadcasting watchdog Ofcom became involved, and in a statement released on Monday confirmed that they would be taking no further action as they believed the context was clear that the remarks were a joke.
An Ofcom spokeswoman said: “Acid attacks are extremely serious crimes. We found that these comments had clear potential to offend listeners.
“But we also considered the audience’s likely expectations of Jo Brand’s style — and of this established show, which sets out to challenge accepted views in society through provocative comedy.
“We also took into account that Ms Brand immediately qualified her comments, making it clear they shouldn’t be taken seriously or acted upon.”
Conservatives and right-wingers had objected at the time of the double standards in the treatment of those on the right and the left, with Mr Farage — a clear target in Ms Brand’s remarks — saying: “I am sick to death of overpaid, left-wing, so-called comedians on the BBC who think their view is morally superior. Can you imagine the reaction if I had said the same thing as Jo Brand?”
Ms Brand was also not subject to media cancel culture, having returned to do other programmes on BBC radio, appearing as recently as Sunday on the Claudia Winkleman show on Radio 2. Whereas broadcaster Eamon Holmes had said in June that he “would be taken off air” had he made the same comments.
Breitbart News’s James Delingpole wrote last year:
If a right-wing comedian were to make such a joke it would, of course, be the end of his career: leftist social media would make sure of that, badgering any venues still prepared to host his gigs; the BBC — in the highly unlikely event that the BBC gave space to a right-wing comic — would cancel his contract, under pressure from the usual leftist suspects (who would in any case be pushing at an open door).
But when a left-wing comedienne such as Brand does it, we’re supposed to just grin and take it on the chin.
Not only is this not fair but it’s also dangerous.
Politics, as Andrew Breitbart said, is downstream from culture. The more often licensed members of the left-wing comedy establishment like Brand vilify and dehumanise their right wing opponents on the BBC, the more socially acceptable it becomes for impressionable listeners to treat right wing people like a lower form of life which may deservedly be crushed under foot.
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