People Bitch Too Much

When is this era of oppression known as Political Correctness going to finally stop plaguing society?

From Chortle.com: BBC blasted for even mentioning offensive comedy

Comedian Doug Stanhope and British radio personality Richard Bacon are under fire this week after Stanhope made an appearance on Bacon's radio show Radio 5 on the BBC.

The interview, which was decidedly tame considering some of Stanhope's material, is getting flack from The Down's Syndrome Association for just mentioning a particular clip of Stanhope's on the air. They didn't even play the damn thing!

Stanhope himself laid out his version of the event on his website, DougStanhope.com:

I was on BBC Radio 5 Live with Richard Bacon a few days ago here in London. There is no BBC radio that I know of that resembles any kind of American terrestrial morning radio much less Howard Stern, etc. It all pretty much feels like an even more uptight, humorless version of NPR and I have resigned myself to play along and give boring, toothless interviews without jokes.

Richard Bacon seemed to appreciate that I wasn't throwing his career into disarray by forcing parts of my act in where it didn't belong. The problem with doing a straight interview on a station that appeals to the mainstream is that some of the listeners might actually come to your show having no idea what is in store and will be sadly disappointed or butt-hurt. Mr Bacon did his best to warn his people in a very English, passive-aggressive way by using 1000 big words to say I was very offensive.

As an aside, he said that if anyone didn't believe that I'm really that bad, they should find my Sarah Palin bit on YouTube. And then the polite, gentlemanly interview ended.

And that's where the trouble begins.

Now admittedly, the bit (which I've linked below for your convenience) may just be the most offensive thing I've ever heard. In my entire life. And I haven't laughed that hard in a long, long time.

But that hasn't stopped the Down's Syndrome Association from mass assaulting the BBC for "(publicizing) the work of a comedian which is nothing more than a vile offensive rant and conflicts with BBC guidelines which state a responsibility to 'protect the vulnerable and avoid unjustifiable offence[sic]'"

Now, I'm going to save you from suffering a long-winded diatribe on the nature of free speech. You've heard it all before. What I will say is that upon reading all of this, the first thing that came to my mind was a scene from the movie Stripes starring Bill Murray and Harold Ramis. After one of the recruits in boot camp goes on a long introductory rant about how he doesn't like people touching him and scattering cold eyed death threats in the breeze, Sgt. Hulka gives a disparaging shake of his head and simply says "Lighten up, Francis."

And now, without further ado, here is the brazen Stanhope bit that is causing such a stir.



It's Just a Ride, folks. Lighten up.