Has Billy lost it?

[slimjim]

What was Billy Connolly thinking when making sick jokes about Ken Bigley (and his wife)? How has a once great comedian managed to turn into Bernard Manning?

[cruthinboy]

Been hobnobbing with British and Hollywood Royalty for too long.

[Oneeyedvic]

Interesting that when I googled this, an article was written over a week ago (28/9/04) where mention was made of this joke at the Apollo - the writer said that it was a asick joke but did not matter as everyone liked Billy..... Obviously now a slow news day, the news has come out. (or maybe the original audience didn't care or saw it as the joke it was meant to be). Humour is about making someone / something look bad - a joke poking fun at the Irish is obviously racist, but is it better to generalise in that way or to "make fun" of an individual - and I have mentioned or this forum before that Ken Bigley did go over voluntarily and must have been paid a mint for going (I really do think he knew the risks before he went. Whenever a human tradgedy occurs / is about to occur there are always sick jokes about from Lockerby to 9/11 to Morcombe Bay. The only way these spread is by a people telling them.

[cruthinboy]

Oh God, Ken Bigley did go over voluntarily - such compassion. BC is a total fraud - waits till his father is dead before accusing him of abuse, describes where he grew up as a slum - it wasn't, I grew up there too.

[Oneeyedvic]

I am sorry - lots of people die everyday - most people not by their own actions - so I am sorry that someone who would be earning a mint there and could not be bothered to organise his own security (as per adice) was kidnapped. Not sure how old you are crutin boy either - are you the same age as BC - if so fair enough - if not I have seen places change within 10 years from total slums to expensive areas and vice versa. Not sure about the allegations against his father - but if you do read about child abuse, a lot of people don't say anything until after the death of the abuser - they feel much safer. I can't say that I really care about Bily - I must confess I struggle with his accent and can't always understand him - he can be very funny, he can be sick and he can be rubbish - pretty much like every commedian.

[cruthinboy]

I'm younger than BC by quite a bit but I know a lot about the history of our part of Glasgow, I'm not saying it was a residential area, it was a working-class shipbuilding area, but it wasn't - to my mind - a slum.

[cruthinboy]

I'm sorry to get on to a familiar theme but would BC have made a joke about the (imminent) death of a non-white? Not a chance!

[thgrimreaper]

Personally I think Connolly is pretty untalented and unoriginal. As for Bigley, he has been an offshore contractor for donkey's years and paid no tax in the UK for most of his life. Whilst I wouldn't want him hurt, he has contributed nothing to us and is facing the consequences of his own greed. Now he's even become "Irish" (far too high a price to pay in my mind As for his wife... far far younger ex "dancer" from a Thai club. Not much you can add to that!

[cruthinboy]

I really can't believe the lack of compassion being shown to Mr Bigley! I'm sure we could dig up some reason to blame/dislike/bad mouth any victim of murder/assault/rape if we really wanted. If you don't care about him, what about his poor 86 year old mother?

[Oneeyedvic]

Sorry, but as I said before - someone in this world dies every few seconds; a mother yearns for a lost son every few minutes - what is the big deal about Bigley. No one here is wishing him dead but I have no more compassion for him that i do of the thousands dying in Ethiopia, Nigeria, Iraq etc. No one is bad mouthing him - unless you think we should not overlook his greed and marriage to a Thai girl - (incidentally I went out there 3 years ago with my wife and Thai girls marrying Englishmen....)

[cruthinboy]

It's the particular circumstances of his predicament: held hostage, humiliated, forced to read statements, having to watch 2 colleagues having their throats slit on camera, not knowing when/if his time will come. Don't know about his private life - none of my business.

[thewillow]

Billy Connolly has always been crap. I could never understand what people saw in him.

[cruthinboy]

Wait till the next time there's a Stephen Lawrence-style "racist" killing in the U. Then we'll see what the big deal is about one death over any other!

[Oneeyedvic]

I am not sure why you are turning this into a racist debate. Whether he was white, black or purple seems to be a bit irrelevant. The terrorists have kidnapped him on the basis of his nationality (british at the time) or religion (or lack of - ie not Muslim). Bernard Manning was very racist - I still laughed at some of his jokes though. As I said before though, take an average person in a war torn land - they have probably been mutilated, seen there whole family killed, have no money, food water, home, possessions. They would have seen more people killed that you or I have had hot dinners. They may have been shot at, stepped on landmines, anything and everyhting. How many people think about them everyday - I can't say I do. Ken Bigley is not some one like the above - he made the decision to go to a war toen country against foreign office advice without bothering with protection purely for profit. You also, say his private life is none of your business - if he molested small boys do you still think he will have had as much coverage / help from the Irish government? Yes it is sad to see what he is going through, no, I don't want to see him dead, however : a) this is not a colour thing b) there are millions of people in far worse scenarios c) I can't remember - I've just been distracted at work - but I am sure it was a good point. Anyway, original question was about Billy Connolly - seems that he may not be as popular as most people thought.

[cruthinboy]

He didn't molest small boys or girls, so his private life IS none of ny business. If he had a male partner, and a contributor had said "anyway, he's a bender" - lifetime ban from Answerbank here we come! I am not turning it into a racist debate, I'm saying that for many people (perhaps not you) the argument that one unnatural death is as bad as another doesn't hold water. Imagine Mr Bigley had beenn an Asian Moslem come to work in the UK on a lucrative contract, some "Christian fundamentalists" had abducted him and 2 colleagues, videocammed their throat slitting and threatene him with same. Would we all be saying "he knew the risks/he was on a fair whack/anyway look at his young wife" - of course not! there'd have been rioting on thestreets, TUC days of action, internment of anybody deemed "racist", endless rehashes of teh Holocaust ... Millions of peole in far worse scenarios than Mr Bigley? You are joking! Regardless of how much he may have brought it on himself, I really don't think there can be anything much worse than what he's facing.

[slimjim]

I'm fed up with this 'he knew the risks argument' and 'he was doing it for the money'. Firstly, we (with the not inconsiderable assistance of the Americans) destroyed the country. So its our duty to help re-build it. In my view, all British contractors out there should be as well protected as British soldiers. Mr Bigley along with others could have had some safe office job in Slough but he wanted to go and help in Iraq. He was not earning an absolute fortune; he could have got better pay in much safer parts of the world. And anyway, market forces; he was paid what he was worth. Many asians come to this country in search of money (I work with some). But they're hardly likely to get kidnapped here. If they were, would we say they got what they deserved?

[JimmyButtons]

Sorry to get personal, but cruthinboy does appear to be losing the plot. Calm down and get off that (IMHO) unpleasant high horse of yours, before you fall off!

[cruthinboy]

JimmyButtons - get off that (IMHO) Not-Contributing-Anything-Whatsoever-To-The-Debate highorse ... if you've got nothing to add apart from insulting other contributors, don't feel you have to post .. please.

[gerry]

It seems to be everytime you turn on your telly there's always something about Ken Bigley,they throw it in your face.There's alot more stuff happin in the world it's not just all about him.While this is going on i feel sorry for the 2 American families that have already lost their loved ones.

[Philtaz]

Not his first faux pas either. I believe he made some sick jokes recently about paedophilia/child abuse. Shame that such a talented man needs to resort to shock tactics in order to heighten his profile from time to time.

[bernardo]

I have heard numerous references to Billy Connelly and Kenneth Bigley on the radio or in the newspapers in the last few days - but I have still got very little idea of what the allegedly offensive jokes were which BC actually said. I can't judge about the sickness or otherwise of the joke(s) until I know what they were.