I saw the latest “comedy” by David Walliams and Matt Lucas advertised in the Radio Times, “Come Fly With Me”… The article introduced us to the cast of characters….and boy, what an array of racist stereotypes. It also shows Walliams and Lucas ‘blacked up’… Why do supposed comics feel the need to ‘black up’? It aint funny, never was and never will be as it is offensive and racist. I saw a trailer for the series and again the viewer was introduced to many of the racist stereotypes. There’s been a trend in past number of years for ‘blacking up’ which exposes a lack of political understanding and shows ignorance about why this is racist. The Black and White Minstrels Show was consigned to the racist dustbin of history so why do some think it’s OK for ‘blacking up’ to be resurrected? It was offensive then as it is now.
So why does the BBC believe this is an acceptable form of comedy where characters are based on racist stereotypes (from Matt Lucas ‘blacking up’ to play “Precious Little” to both Walliams and Lucas playing Japanese schoolgirls…..). But then the BBC had no problems with offensive and racist stereotypes in the 2nd episode of Sherlock Holmes.
It seems to me that the politics of understanding oppression has fallen by the political wayside… “jokes” about, for example, disability and domestic violence are just the current crop of crass crap masquerading as “humour”. I am shocked when I see comedians and other supposed entertainers ‘black up’. Don’t they understand the political message they are conveying? Or don’t they care because it is all harmless fun. Harmless fun at the expense of people experiencing oppression in this society.
Yeah, what a laugh!
See as well this article
totally agree what pass’s for comedy these days bemuses me no end. for the bbc to sell this as their flagship comedy piece of the christmas tv coverage seems a bit sad and a mark of how far we’ve come. i.e not very in terms of racial stereotypes. sad indeed
Isn’t that what Walliams and Lucas do – offensively laugh at vulnerable members of society from a white, middle-class perspective?
Little Britain oozed hatred for anybody gay (ironic considering Lucas himself is gay), poor, disabled or transgender. I can’t say i’m surprised at this latest display of distasteful ‘comedy’ to be honest.
Agree James, this is vile sneery obnoxious and offensive white middle class look at people who experience oppression.
Comedy? Its either new material that is offensive with stereotypes or stolen (sorry, heavily “inspired by”) from past comedy sketches without any credit attributed to it. Usually a combination of the both.
But it extends deeper than this into two parts… Shit TV (excuse my language) and being inappropriate or offensive.
It seems they like to make sure Points of View etc. never get axed. The material on the BBC these days is disgraceful and such filth is guaranteed prime time slots on the flagship channel BBC 1.
The first point… why 4 channels? They can’t get enough half-decent content for 2 channels! Has anyone watched BBC Three? It is only broadcasted like half a day and has so many repeats and most of its complete rubbish. I have no idea why they don’t just move it (i.e. the few good shows – NOT lee nelson or russell howard lol) on to the main 2 channels. At first this might seem irrelevant to the issue, but clearly, the BBC is structured per channel and BBC 1 is clearly aimed at the old people who have a telly without a remote and/or without the ability to change the channel.
It avoids anything which can bring in the younger demographics and it has been said it has white middle class tory written all over it. This “comedy” which conflicts with political correctness hits the notes of any old (or some middle aged) person, of keeping up with something deemed to be current whereas they don’t care about political correctness. Many will still use terms like “a coloured person” and I wouldn’t dare give any more examples.
But never to worry, we always have the BBC news; oh wait, that is still as bad…
I watched the show the other night and couldn’t believe what I was seeing – it was like time warping back to the 70s with the racist stereotypes. Disgraceful.
“vile sneery obnoxious and offensive white middle class” sums up most of the self-obsessed leftist/rightist blogs on the net.
This thread’s like a “who can be the most outraged?” competition.
I’d steer clear of Bill Hicks, Frankie Boyle and Gerry Sadowitz then if I were you.
This seems part of a larger shift by the BBC to the right since the ConDems took over the government.
Totally agree. It is NOT okay even if you think you’re being “ironic”.