Why Does Jonathan Ross Say These Things?

Posted on November 5, 2008 in Uncategorized

Georgina Baillie, the young woman at the centre of the controversy surrounding the lewd remarks left by Jonathan Ross and Russell Brand on Andrew Sach’s answer machine, has now called on the BBC to reinstate both their stars, saying that their punishment was “out of proportion”.  Unfortunately for both Ross and Brand, Baillie has chosen a very bad day for disseminating such good news, as unfortunately, that little local election thingy across the pond has hogged up all the headlines, unlike the days when Baillie had previously called for their heads.  Whether you like Jonathan Ross or not, you may have some sympathy with him, especially when you consider the fact that John Cleese regularly verbally, physically, and racially abused Andrew Sachs all the time in the seventies, and nobody ever complained.
    The most unfortunate part of the affair (especially if you’re a book publicist) is that Friday Night with Jonathan Ross has now been taken off the air in the run-up to Christmas, the most important part of the year for promoting those book-type things that we all love.  A Bit of Fry and Laurie once declared that the most important part of comedy is timing, and Jonathan Ross’s timing here was diabolical.  Unless, of course, he was aiming for a good bit of ironical, black comedy.  As you may not know, Jonathan Ross has a book out at the moment, the rather aptly titled Why Do I Say These Things? (although I suspect the paperback edition – if there is one – might have an expletive added to it, along with “the”).  At first, the cynic in me suspected that this whole Sachs scandal was a publicity stunt to promote Ross’s book.  If so, it’s one that’s backfired magnificently, as The Bookseller reported today that sales of both Ross’s and Brand’s books have fallen dramatically in the wake of the controversy.  No doubt Ross is wishing that the little chimp on the cover had held onto his mouth a bit more firmly. Yet, I suspect that Ross’s real sin was to have made an ass of himself during these current inclement times.  Ross’s £6 million a year salary was controversial enough during the boom years, so it’s clear that it wouldn’t be tolerated for long at the start of what some commentators believe could be the worst recession for generations.
    So, Ross and Russell have now, inappropriately enough, damaged their ‘brand’ names for who knows how long.  The only winner appears to have been the burlesque dancer Georgina Baillie, who may one day get a book deal out of it.  However, let’s hope that no other book sales will have been damaged in the meantime in the publicity void left by the suspension of Jonathan Ross’s shows.

Kevin Mahoney