These are the few seconds of television which put Frankie Boyle onto the naughty seat.
I’m a bit confused, though. The BBC Trust took its time as usual to decide that this joke went too far. It decided that Adlington had not ‘courted publicity or celebrity status’, adding that there was no editorial reason for including the comments about Adlington.
So, what was the editorial reason? Would it be that she won some gold medals, and courted publicity afterwards, even getting a pair of Jimmy Choo shoes from the Mayor of Mansfield? Adlington had plenty of airtime and column inches to launch her celebrity status. She certainly hadn’t courted celebrity status, but how can we honestly argue that she hadn’t courted publicity, and as much as she or the olympic team could manage!
Just to drive the nail in further, the original judgement was made on 19th October 2009. If you’re that hurt and dismayed by something, why the hell wait until the next month before you seek further publicity by damning the joke once again? Her publicist, Rob Woodhouse has wrote to the BBC trust, advising that they weren’t heavy handed enough. Had things be let to lie, I wouldn’t have been so inquisitive as to the content in question, searched for it on Youtube, and repeated it here. Sometimes it’s better, when the outcome isn’t in your favour, to just keep quiet and let everyone forget about it.
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