The headline is Radio 1 DJ Chris Moyles faces backlash from listeners after making offensive 'fat' jokes about Beth Ditto.
It hardly seems news that Moyles - like Jonathan Ross - might make some near-the-knuckle jokes on his programme, but the Mail is only interested in leaping on something minor to try and turn it into some 'BBC outrage'.
But by saying 'faces backlash' they seem to admitting that there isn't an actual 'backlash' they can report on. Usually they pick up some comments from the BBC messageboards or some other forum but none are quoted.
Here's how their article begins:
Chris Moyles has caused controversy by mocking Beth Ditto for being overweight - despite weighing over 16 stone himself.
The Radio 1 DJ angered listeners with his comments about the Gossip singer as he handed over to Fearne Cotton on Wednesday morning.
The joke started when Moyles joked he would look like Ditto if he dressed up in women's clothes, but quickly descended into something altogether more offensive.
But do they really mean 'offensive'?
Because if the Mail's thinks it was all so 'offensive', why do they willingly repeat ten of the 'jokes' he came out with?
Moreover, when it comes to remarks about Ditto's weight, are the Mail really in a position to criticise others?
For example, in March 2009 they said Ditto had:
squeezed herself into the tight-fitting lycra frock, testing its limits almost to the point of destruction.
See? She's so fat she nearly destroys her clothes! Brilliant!
And a few months later, one of their headlines came with a health warning:
She's so fat she'll hurt your eyes! Hilarious!
So is the real reason that the Mail is upset with Moyles because he works for the BBC? Or is it because making petty remarks about Beth Ditto's weight is their job?
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"So is the real reason that the Mail is upset with Moyles because he works for the BBC? Or is it because making petty remarks about Beth Ditto's weight is their job?"
ReplyDeleteYou missed the actual reason: it's because the Mail is a hateful, spiteful and hypocritical rag that loves to manufacture outrage so that it can be ... outraged.
Once Viz Comic takes over and boots out Dacre it can be truer to it's own nature.
Funny isn't it? The Chris Moyles 'jokes' were a list of generalized fat jokes, said by a man who admitted he was fat, and technically as fat as the person he was discussing. I think we can agree they were unfunny, but that's not really a news story.
ReplyDeleteAs you say, no reference at all as to who these "angry radio 1 listeners one". Someone should tell them people in the Daily Mail office do not count.
The Mail on the other hand, isn't even making 'jokes': these are simply nasty observations.
Do you not get depressed trawling through this bilge everyday?
Beth Ditto isn't the only target - recently, they've also been making jibes about Mariah Carey's weight. I mean, Carey might have gained a few pounds since her heyday, but you'd have to be insane to think that she's seriously overweight!
ReplyDeleteOh, wait a minute, it's the Daily Mail. Yep, they're insane alright.
Actually, if the Mail listened to Moyles' show, they'd know he has lost a lot of weight recently - he in fact weighs less than I do now - last time he mentioned it he was hovering around the 14 stone mark. If you see him on recent TV appearances (such as the Radio 1 Breakfast Show documentary on BBC2 this week) you can tell he is a lot slimmer.
ReplyDeleteGood for him.
Anyway, we can expect a lot more silly stories from the Mail now that we have a coalition government. Conservatives and Lib-Dems together? Surely that must be short circuiting Dacre's brain! :P
i really cannot stand chris moyles. and i really hate the daily mail. they're both pretty indefensible. (is that a real word?)
ReplyDeletestill the daily mail is in no position to criticise someone else for making jokes about someone else's appearance. this is the rag that a while back criticised dita von teese for going out in a jumper and a skirt. whether they expected her to do her groceries in a sequinned corset or thing and nipple tassles i don't know...
Um..so Chris Moyles makes offensive sexist remarks (again) and you leap to his defense because he is being criticised by the Daily Mail. Why?
ReplyDeleteThe Daily Mail is funded by it's readership (through advertising and the cover price)If I find it offensive I don't have to buy it.
Chris Moyles, on the other hand, gets his £650,000 from a public service broadcaster. So we all (or most of us) have to fund the offensive, crass, unfunny drivel (eg Polish prostitutes, lets put on camp voices and sing unfunny songs about Will Young being gay, fat women jokes - even funnier if she's lesbian)that passes for entertainment on Radio 1.
Today it has been widely reported that Chris Evans has brought an extra million listeners to Radio 2 since replacing Terry Wogan. I wonder why this positive BBC story has not appeared in the Daily Mail?
ReplyDeleteAnonymous 22.31 - I am not 'leaping to his defence' and I can't see where you think I am? After all, I specifically wrote 'jokes' because I didn't think they were at all funny and, unlike the Mail, didn't repeat them.
ReplyDeleteI don't listen to Chris Moyles - if you find him offensive, you don't have to either - but my point was if you do, you should know what to expect. And how many complaints have there been about this from those who actually heard it?
My problem, if you had read the thing properly, was two-fold. Can the Mail really take the moral high-ground about other people making fun of Ditto's weight (or indeed, any famous person's weight since they do it all the time)?
Secondly, if the 'jokes' were so offensive, why repeat ten of them?
Oh and I am bored of the Mail blowing the slightest BBC non-story out of all proportion.
chris moyles himself has added 600 thousand new listners. haveng officially 7.88 listners and over 9 million listners if you count the 12 - 14 year olds.
ReplyDeleteif you listen too the show. there is a very entertaining show and any jokes made are light hearted. and alot of them also about each other. it's just general ribbing. to complain about the things. like the will young gay jokes. were all in entertainment. even will young was ok with them as they are taken in a light herted view. his producer. aled haden jones is openly gay and is one of chris moyles closest friends.
chris is one of the best and most hard working d.j's. works the desk himself and does alot behind the scenes for the show and the job he does.