Should This Bbc Dj Have Been Sacked For What Was Just An Unfortunate Mistake?

[anotheoldgit]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2625248/BBC-sacks-DJ-playing-The-Sun-Has-Got-His-Hat-On-didnt-know-original-features-N-word-Clarkson-wasnt-fired-actually-saying-it.html

[ToraToraTora]

Olivers army is played every day on Classic Gold not sure why this has been singled out. No he should not have been sacked, good on him for telling them to shove it though.

[retrocop]

Certainly not.He did'nt write the lyrics did he?Why can't people accept that years ago the word *** was a word in common usage?My dear Mum ,I remember,went to the wool shop and bought "*** brown" wool to knit some socks.Guy Gibson VC called his black Labrador ***.My,now deceased,sister in law called her black cat *** when she was a little girl.I am aware of the song "The sun has got it's hat on" but never knew the full lyrics and still don't.I would of been guilty of the same MISTAKE if I had been the DJ.Is a DJ,no matter how old or experienced,expected to run through all the material he intends to play first so as all these PC loonies are not offended.To knowingly play that ditty with the word included would,indeed,cause some offence to some.To get the sack for it.Never.Sack all the idiots in the BBC who make these decisions.

[tamborine]

Its getting daft now; will kids whinge they learned racist songs in nursery school & can they claim compo from teachers?

[jno]

no. It's not like Clarkson, who said the word himself.

[Coobeastie]

No. Clarkson didnt say it either. He mumbled a sound that was similar decided it was too close for comfort and had a different recording aired. The expert the newspaper got in wasnt even certain he'd said it.

[rockyracoon]

No he shouldn't have been sacked. If the BBC are that concerned they should have a list of banned songs and perhaps remove them from their database to stop someone else making the same innocent mistake.

[Baldric]

I think ,given his age, he should certainly have had better knowledge of what he was putting on air, as for comparing the incident with Clarksons, this man played the 'N' word on air while ///Top Gear presenter Jeremy Clarkson kept his job when he appeared to mumble exactly the same racist term///
One did it, the other appeared to mumble it
.

[Baldric]

In the original 1932 version of the song, the second verse contains the lines

He's been tanning *** out in Timbuktu
Now he's coming back to do the same to you(Wiki)

[ToraToraTora]

.....but why is "olivers army" played every day?

[anotheoldgit]

Baldric

Ah! you can't beat the 'good old songs' much better than the rubbish they play today.

[dunnitall]

So how did he get hold of that version? If in the BBC collection why was it there if it contained an offensive word?

[rockyracoon]

Probably safer to play today's rubbish though :-)

[rockyracoon]

That's what I think Dunnitall, it should be taken off or made unavailable.

[jackthehat]

1. No, he shouldn't have been sacked.
2. The only reason I can see for Oliver's Army continuing to be played is because it is seen as a contemporary commentary on the situation, at that time, in Northern Ireland.
But I believe that it has probably had its' time now and ought to be pulled from radio playlists.

[anotheoldgit]

/// Ironically, the row was triggered by Mr Lowe being sensitive to the possibility that a requested song might cause offence. A woman from Cornwall wanted him to play Abdul Abulbul Amir – which featured in an Whitbread beer advert in the 1980s. ///

/// But Mr Lowe was concerned that it mentioned the Prophet Muhammad and, after speaking to his producer, decided to play The Sun Has Got His Hat On instead. ///

In trying to avoid offending one group, he gets into trouble by accidentally offending another group.

Oh dear things were much less complicated years ago, when it didn't matter who one offended.

[ichkeria]

If you look at the lyrics in context it should be plain why the Oliver's Army lyric is acceptable and the other most definitely isn't

Of course he should not have been sacked however.

[DrFilth]

aog said i was a racist so it is only natural that i still have a single record with the n word in

bob dylan , hurricane

All of Rubin's cards were marked in advance
The trial was a pig-circus he never had a chance
The judge made Rubin's witnesses drunkards from the slums
To the white folks who watched he was a revolutionary bum
And to the black folks he was just a crazy ni****
No one doubted that he pulled the trigger
And though they could not produce the gun
The DA said he was the one who did the deed
And the all-white jury agreed.

http://tinypic.com/view.php?pic=2qd06yp&s=8#.U2933CjaXbo

[BilSuth]

In less trigger-happy times in the past, people were occasionally offended. Nowadays society gets offended on your behalf, whether it bothers you or not, and even if the reference is not noticed immediately and has to be pointed out. I have no time for that loudmouth Clarkson, nor for the PC Nazis either.

[kvalidir]

No of course he shouldn't have been sacked and neither should there be any blanket ban on any word in song, but context is everything and this isn't a lyric to be listened to comfortably, whereas in other songs it does have a place. None the less, the DJ playing it didn't realise it was in there and offered to apologise on air, so clearly he wasn't out to offend anyone.

[DrFilth]

sorry should have a put a picture of the a side up

http://tinypic.com/view.php?pic=20zbo0z&s=8#.U2961ijaXbo