Jo Brand: Police to take 'no action' over battery acid comment
Jo Brand has faced a barrage of backlash following a joke she made on BBC Radio 4’s Heresy last week when discussing division in the UK following Brexit.
She said on the comedy show: “I would say that but that is because certain unpleasant characters are being thrown to the fore. And they are very easy to hate.
“I am kind of thinking, why bother with a milkshake when you could get some battery acid? That’s just me, sorry.”
She clarified it was “fantasy”, but then added how she thinks “milkshakes are pathetic”.
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Today on Good Morning Britain, Paul Ross and India Willoughby discussed the matter now the BBC have edited out the joke on catch-up services.
Paul in particular was very vocal in support of Jo, believing she should be cleared of the joke because of it’s inclusion in an edited show.
Piers asked: “The BBC were very quick to sack [Danny Baker] but Jo Brand who makes a joke about flinging battery acid at politicians following on nearly three years since Jo Cox was killed in the street.
“To me, that completely crossed a line. I don’t think there should be any jokes about attacking politicians after Jo Cox.”
Paul answered: “I think basically, the BBC invited her on, provocative show… I think Radio 4 comedies are about as funny as a verruca, but they got her on that programme to be provocative. They signed off on the joke by broadcasting it on an edited programme.
“It’s their responsibility. Jo Brand went along and gave them what they wanted. Jimmy Carr is on the road at the moment and his jokes are very extreme but they’re not for broadcast. The BBC made their decision.”
“I don’t think it was a particularly funny joke, I thought it was a tasteless joke, but as always in their weasely way you have pulled away from it. They’re responsible, not Jo Brand.”
Paul continued: “You can’t start censoring what you say because of social laws.
“Jo Brand used to do a gag when she said the best way to a man’s heart was through his stomach, she used to say, ‘no I think the best way to a man’s heart is through his chest with a breadknife’.”
At that, Susanna Reid made a large gasp and Paul hit back: “You’ve just done a sharp intake of breath there, but at the time that was a funny gag.”
The presenter hit back: “Any jokes about violence just set my teeth on edge.
Paul insisted: “It’s just slapstick though!”
The BBC have said on the matter: “We carefully considered the programme before broadcast. It was never intended to encourage or condone violence, and it does not do so, but we have noted the strong reaction to it.
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Jo Brand: Why bother with milkshake when there’s battery acid
“Comedy will always push boundaries and will continue to do so, but on this occasion we have decided to edit the programme. We regret any offence we have caused.”
Piers reflected: “So they don’t think it was wrong, but they deleted it so you can’t now find it on the BBC website…”
He continued: “That again seems to me like double-standard. On the one hand we’re saying it’s unacceptable, we’re deleting it, we’re censoring it. But on the other we’re saying actually we don’t think it’s that offensive.
“So which one is it, BBC? If it’s not offensive, leave it up there. Own what you claim is not offensive and if it is offensive, so much so that you’ve deleted it, admit it’s offensive and wrong. You can’t be both.”
Good Morning Britain airs weekdays on ITV at 6am.