BBC reprimanded over jokes about Palin, Down syndrome
December 9th, 2008From the [UK] Independent:
An independent UK media regulator has found that the BBC violated the Broadcasting Code in airing a radio show in which an American comedian described Sarah Palin’s son as “retarded” and said his Down syndrome was proof that “God obviously hates her.”
The finding came in response to a viewer complaint about a show last September that featured comedian Doug Stanhope. In a Broadcast Bulletin, the UK Office of Communications (Ofcom) said “the word ‘retarded’ was used in a particularly derogatory manner” and that the reference to Down syndrome as a punishment from God was “highly offensive.”
From the Ofcom transcript of the show:
Stanhope: [Ms Palin] is a 44 year-old mother of five, two of which are retarded.
Host: These are your, [laughs] obviously, your views …
Stanhope: One’s got Down’s Syndrome and the other volunteered for Iraq . So that’s two retards out of five …. Oh nothing. They give me nothing, nothing but blank looks.
Host: Doug this is your opinion, your opinion of what’s happening back home, so obviously, if something kicks off in America …
Stanhope: For Pete’s sake, don’t stare at me like that. The woman has a baby with Down’s Syndrome; how can America get behind her when even God obviously hates her. [laughs]
(Video here of an earlier performance of comparable material.)
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January 31st, 2009 at 4:39 am
Anne, we should never stoop to Stanhope’s level and use the word retarded to describe him or anyone. Stanhope is guilty of being ignorant. We should pity him, not call him names.
December 9th, 2008 at 9:14 pm
That is such a horrible thing to say, this Stanhope idiot obviously has a disability — of character.
He is the one retarded, not those with Down syndrome. I take his comments very personally as I have an Angel child with Down syndrome who is very smart and most always better behaved than most “typical” children his age…
Stanhope, you are a loser.