Russell Brand Resigns from the BBC!!!
Filed under: Anglophilia > Russell Brand
Russell Brand has just resigned from his BBC radio show because of Prank Call-gate!
He issued the following statement:
"I have apologised to Andrew Sachs for the rude messages I left on October 18th and he has graciously accepted. As I only do the radio show to make people laugh I've decided that given the subsequent coverage I will stop doing the show. I've loved working for the BBC and am very proud of the shows myself, Matt Morgan, Nic Philps, Mr Gee and Noel Gallagher have made and I apologise to all of them for damaging their careers -except Noel, whose band are doing quite well. I got a bit caught up in the moment and forgot that at the core of the rude comments and silly songs were the real feelings of a beloved and brilliant comic actor and a very sweet and big hearted young woman. Apologies are also owed to the loyal listeners of the show who enjoyed its shambolic spirit and anarchy and will be upset that it cannot continue. I take complete responsibility and offer nothing but love and contrition and I hope that now Jonathan and the BBC will endure less forensic wrath. Hare Krishna".
Dayum! In the UK, a prank call gone bad can 'cost' a comic big time.
Imagine if those same standards applied to the US.
A shitload of people would be out of work!!!!
Woo hoo to corporate owned entertainment!
[Image via WENN.]
At least you can show tits on UK TV.
That's sad. I think the man is fucking hysterical. Fuck that old guy.
He sucked when he did the VMA's. Oh well, he'll be another has-been soon. I could care less now anyway.
he is disgusting
PRIMERO????
i love russell brand he's so fuckin funny! I wanna blaze with that guy but then i'm afraid he might molest me that sex fiend he is!
FUCKING BABIES!
Mark my words, Russell will be alright. It's the BBC's loss - the fools.
……whats wrong w/ his face?..Is it naturally like that or did God just make a mistake?
14:59, over!
So long, SUCKER
he's gotten fired from so much, i'm sure this having to resign isnt too bad.
still, a shame. you kidn of have to expect it from him.
and perez…
still shaking my head at calling johnathon ross "this guy". tsk tsk
Gotta love RB.
His radio show was fuckin' brilliant. He'll be missed.
I think tv in the UK is more free.
I love RusselBrand. I was listening at the time and it was fucking hilarious.
BBC is for old people and shit programming. I hope he gets his show elsewhere.That podcast was the best.GARRr.Will miss Mr Gee AndNoel.Esp MATT!..ggarrr
Yes, "corporate" owned radio, not government. Say yes to capitalism!
over a joke…so lame..i hate his hair
the whole thing was blown right out of proportion, its their loss and lets face it he hardly needs the job
I knew I liked him. Hare Krishna!
Channel 4 will no doubt give him a new show on c4 or something they seem to love him. as do i so i hope they do.
Oh please…ask Opi and Anthony how much getting fired fires up your career.
Now we all know Russell Brand's name…and he'll sell that many more tickets or ads because of it. What a bad boy - all the way to the bank.
He's still got his TV show and the film he's working on, he hasn't lost a lot.
Re: chickenfuca –
LMAO!!!
:( I'm really sad about this. I really like his radio show.
Yeah, you called the BBC State-owned, but actually it's funding from TV-license payers that funds it, therefore it's the public that own it. It's not like it's shoving propaganda in our faces and it's not the only channel. The fuckers aren't showing Never Mind The Buzzcocks tomorrow night either because Russell's on it. It's a show I always though perez would be good on.
He is the definition of a fuckwad. Make 2 funny jokes out of 20, then act like an idiot and then when people call you on being a jackass, claim it's comedy. Good luck with that!
What a fucking tool….Shit tastes good doesn't it Russell
Sadly Perez it is a criminal offence in the UK to leave such abusive messages on people's answerphones. The BBC is publicly owned and ran by money given to them by the public therefore it shouldn't be seen to use public money to fund such criminal practices. They Andrew Sachs that Russell had "fucked his granddaughter" and used that word NOT "slept with his granddaughter" - so there is a crude and nasty element to it, especially now the granddaughter has confessed she has slept with Russell. They also suggested Andrew Sachs should hang himself after hearing the news Russell had fucked his granddaughter. Andrew Sachs is most widely known as the Spanish waiter in the John Cleese comedy Fawlty Towers.
Re: La*Lady – Dramaz across the pond!
This has been blown way out of proportion by people who jumped on the bandwagon by complaining after the tabloids sensationalized the whole thing. Russell Brand is an alternative comedian, if people don't like it, don't listen to it.
If I was at work and rang someone in works time to tell them I'd fucked their granddaughter and maybe hang yourself because of the shame of it and my boss found out I would expect to get fired. So what is the difference here, they were both at work working for an organisation funded by the public. The public are the boss and they want them both to go.
Mario, get the hint? You could learn a lesson or two about being responsible. You put the ass in classless.
Oh, My GOD!!!! Russell, you are wonderful, I just love you (If you so happen to be reading this). Please keep your head up. I just love how much love, possitive energy, and common sense you bring to the masses. And I love the fact that you did it through humor. I'm sorry people are sourpusses, and you will continue flourish. Be good, stay sexy, and keep me laughing…if you're actually reading this, lol.
What they done is DISCUSTING.
They called this really old guy and said "I fucked your grandaughter, I had her over the kicthen table".
Totally out-of-order, Russell brand is shit anyway. And the grandaughter is a skanky whore for fucking him anyway.
Censorship in the UK is far more lax than in the states. I can't imagine people in the UK foaming at the mouth with rage at the sight of a female nipple (Janet gate) or dishing out death threats to a comedian because he took the piss out of a president (with the IQ of a plant) and a bunch of dorky teenagers.
Russell got in BIG trouble because he made rude, explicit phone calls to a 78 year old guy about his granddaughter (who he shagged). He even went as far as to make up a rhyme 'it was consensual and she wasn't menstrual' and it snowballed from there.
As the general British public pay for the BBC, many weren't happy and thought it bad taste.
If this had happened in the land of 'free speech' he'd be on the run by now…
NoOoOoooOo EVERY OTHER PODCAST IS SO SHITTY IN COMPARISON!!!!
Waterboard him! ….I'm being sarcastic, I love Russell!
Arghhh I don't like his humor…
… Poor old man!!!! If it was my grandpa…. I would personally punch him right between his eyes and balls!!!! fucktard!!!! How tasteless… I love comedians…but there's something really wrong to fuck around with the elderly… specially about something like this!!! eewwwwwwwww….
And i feel so sorry for Matt Morgan, he went on holiday for a few weeks and now his jobs gone, thanks to David Baddiel bringing the whole satanic sluts thing up on the last show, and Jonathan Ross shouting "he fucked your granddaughter!!!" If Matt was there he would have told Russell to shut up. I wonder if Ross will resign now as well, because it looks bad for Russ to resign and for him to keep his job. No wonder the BBC didnt want to do anything, they didn't want two of their biggest stars leaving. This is a sad day, especially because i thought the whole thing was hilairious. I'm thinking most of the complainers were old (as they usually are) and were incensed that somebody would talk about granddaughters in that way
The idiot asked for it. Andrew Sachs is not a nobody in the UK.
I believe I read somewhere that Russel has fucked Andrews granddaughter for real. So where is the humor?
They show unedited movies on the BBC and their programming is 50x better than the US' stuff. Their comedy is more outrageous and the US gets most all of its reality shows from them. I think corporate owned media has a long way to go.
Twat!
I listened to the show when it was broadcast and the comments made were rude and almost intimidating. I couldn't quite tell whether there were undertones of misogyny or whether it was just two daft men being juvenile. Andrew Sachs certainly didn't deserve to receive those messages, he seems to be a very sweet old man and I would be disgusted if someone left similar messages on the answer phone of my granddad.
HOWEVER; the media attention has been ridiculously blown out of proportion. Most people seem to be harping on about Ross' massive salary, it smacks of envy. This is typical of the British press, for some reason the press love to knock our best stars down.
While I agree that Mr Sachs should have been left alone it seems his daughter has been courting this attention to the max! She is the one who sold her story and she's in an extreme burlesque act called satanic sluts! She is hardly an innocent in all this.
Also, on our version of big brother this year one of the male housemates viciously branded a young girl an "ugly slut", asked her to get her boobs out and bullied her until she wept. This was a much more obvious example of sexism in action but almost nothing was done.
BTW Perez, Jonathan Ross is a national treasure! Friday night with Jonathan Ross is a huge deal in the UK. Although he was very much in the wrong I hope we don't lose him from our screens for good!
Ugh, I'm gutted. This is so dumb. Russell is awesome. And the UK is a million times more relaxed on what they view than the US….whenever any Americans go on Friday Night with Jonathan Ross they all love it how they can swear and basically say whatever they want. Its just because it was BBC and paid for by licence payers that they had to do something about it which was a shame. Producers fault, it was pre-recorded so they could have pulled it before it went out. Idiots!
AND what are the press going so crazy over this for when WE ARE IN THE MIDDLE OF A BLOODY ECONOMIC CRISIS!! This was the last thing they should have been talking about in the house of commons - Gordon Brown sort the country out!
:( I loved this show. Such a shame. The phone call was over the top but this whole thing is blown way out of proportion.
this guy just looks like he's dirty. physically dirty. i mean if i touched him i'd get a layer of grime on my finger.
If he resigned then why did he just post a msg on Myspace to sign a petition to get him back onto the radio??
It's really unfortunate. I like both of these guys. The show got out of hand and some things were said that were wholly inappropriate. The outcome was inevitable because of the answerphone messages that were left. The fallout could have been contained had the producers of the show edited most of that dodgy stuff out of the recording. Russell has subsequently behaved in a most respectful way and his resignation is certainly an honourable act. He will be back. Jonathon Ross, on the other hand, who stands to lose much more has said very little other than the fact that he planned to apologise on his Friday night's show (a bit late!) but that was before he got suspended.
I have no idea whether or not he is funny but he looks just like 'Nick' from Family Ties. Does he not know that it's not 1985 anymore? Eww.
brand is an assclown!
It's really not fair. I heard the podcast of the show,
and it wasn't Russell's fault, it was Jonathan.
Jonathan was the one who blurted out the original rudeness, Russell was just trying to make a funny situation out of a shitty one.
If he resigned then why on his myspace is he telling everyone to go and sign a petition to get his radio show back on the air?
Blown out of proportion…
Did you hear the rumors the police may be involded in investigating this "case"?
Ridiculous waste of tax-payers money!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I wish Russel didnt have to leave ’cause now it seems like Jonathan has to leave to….
I adore Russell. I'm going to see him or my birthday at the liverpool arena. There just making a big deal cos it's the Manuel from Faulty Towers, the funniest thing EVER. He should be able to take a joke! And Jonathan Ross on a friday night is the best thing on tele. The BBC make a big big deal out of the sillest of things.
I wonder if Ross will fall on his sword tomorrow. You can't prank call a blameless old man four times and leave messages about fucking his granddaughter and suicide and expect to keep your £16,000 a day salary. It may have been funny for some of Brand's listeners, but it must have been distressing for Andrew Sachs and his family, especially after he had asked the BBC not to broadcast the phone calls.
Finally the fag in semi-drag does something right.
Wow has everybody gone nuts!!!!
The joke wasn't funny but this has gone too far!
The biggest mistake they made was involving the biggest publicity WHORE ever - bitch grandaughter IMO
I have been watching the news on this, and it was ridiculous.The whole situation was blown out fo porportion, and in fact the original broadcast(which im my opinion shouldnt have been aired with the call still intact, as it was a pre-record) only recieved two complaints, and after the media storn( following the sun newspaper) recieved 27 thousand.mob mentality at its worst.
…and nothing of value was lost!
Seriously, Russell Brand is an overrated talent vacuum and I don't want to have to pay his wages, especially if he's making illegal obscene calls to a pensioner. If something embarrasingly terrible were to happen to him, even if it caused his death, then he might make me laugh. Until then, just another something to sigh at as I change the channel to perhaps a good comedian.
Good for the BBC. There is no reason why this crap should be on the air. Too bad he'll probably get a higher paying job somewhere else.
he's quite erudite. i love a man with a sick sense of humor who can say he's sorry. definitely working his sobriety with good intention. he's a character, you can go either way with a brit. he's a zillion times better than that twat that gwyneth paltrow's married to, chris - the 23 yr. old virgin - puke! babyshambles looks like he's wearing dirty diapers, barf. at least gavin rossdale is normal, cute, and is a good dad. russell brand seems like a stand-up guy.
lol hes so not funny anyway. no loss there
In 2006, Two popular morning DJ's in NY (Opie and Anthony) were famousley fired, not necessarily over a prank call, but for broadcasting a couple who were supposedly having sex in a church (St. Patrick's Cathedral). They were canned, but now they have their own show on XM.
My estimation of Russell just soared. Imagine, a star not only taking the blame, apologizing and punishing himself appropriately! Astounding. Well done, sir.
Re: shellxoxox Russell Brand is an alternative comedian, if people don't like it, don't listen to it. –
.
The point is, the older gentlemen wasn't listening to it and was rudely insulted and made a fool of publically. Sure, the listeners could talk with their money by turning off the rot, but the two instigators pulled in an innocent bystander.
I have to say - this is a complete pile of shit. No matter how much of a dick he acts, he's a genuinely funny guy, I recommend watching some of his stand up on youtube.
This is one of the mildest things he's done on his show, it's a complete overreaction, I used to get up at 7am on a Sunday morning to listen to his show over the web over here, I often laughed so hard I had a wheeze. I'll miss it a lot.
What a WANKER!
It's the british tabloid press who dole out the censorship in the UK, not the government. They created such a frenzy over this incident that the BBC were forced to react. The losers are the british tv viewing public who have had Russell Brand and Jonathan Ross taken off the air. The irony is, the people who made all the complaints aren't the ones who watch Russell and Jonathan.
I don't think Russell would have done this if Matt was on that show. He kinda keeps Russell in line lol.
Its ridiculous that Gordon Brown is getting involved shouldn't he being worrying about the credit crunch or something?!
fucking hell,i LOVE that show,damn you,BBC!I listened to that Andrew Sachs thingy,it was HILARIOUS,but it would never have happend if that fucker Andy would have picked up the phone instead of leaving it to the answer machine..oh,well,mr Brand will be fine,he´s doing very well,with a lot of new films and Ponderland!Like someone said,its BBC´s loss.
This was blown out of proportion
Yaaaay blown out of proportion. This also happened last week, and the press actually reported then that they hadn't had a complaint from Sachs and only a few from listeners. Now that press have got hold of it, its gone crazy and people, who would never listen to Russell anyway are being disgusted. It was silly, but people who listen would know, that actually all the other phonecalls were actually them trying to say sorry, and stressing out about what had been said. Russell is a very funny man, Matt is lovely, and Ross is a legend.
Re: MelissLA84 – TOTALLY AGREE! Cannot believe that they talked about this which really is a nothing in comparison to the state of the country.. ffs. Yeah they were a little out of order but the girl is in a burlesque thing called satanic sluts she's hardly a sweetie and best of all Sachs really doesn't mind and is satisfied with the apology and is not baying for blood. Thanks to all the tabloids, broadsheets and politicians who felt this was the most important thing in the country this week you fucking shit for brain cockheads!
It was resign or be fired. Nothing noble about it. That's how it works in the big leagues. Brand is a loose cannon and the BBC has too much on the line to let the guy remain on the air. Fortunately for Brand, he'll get offers from America and probably be paid better in the States than in Britain.
It's really no different than what has happened in the US with people like Howard Stern and Don Imus.
I LOVE YOU RUSSEL!
I feel utterly deflated that he's resigned, when I listened to the podcast (which was released at least a week before the whole "scandal" of it was created and got a grand total of 2 complaints) anyone could hear how worried Russell and Jonathan were after leaving those messages, they weren't done maliciously, it was just thinking-on-your-feet gone overboard. AND it was a pre-recorded show, the Beeb didn't have to air it, so the band waggon of blaming Brand and Ross should be evacuated immediately. The owner of the answering machine in question didn't actually seem too bothered when interviewed by BBC journos, proving that this whole saga was nothing but a distraction from the money crisis we're facing. "Ol' Russ" became part the thing he tried to make his listeners more aware of - propaganda, trying to make it look like this story was far more important than the credit crunch, "therefore it must be getting better". He's hillerious and will continue to make people laugh untill the bitter end. R.E.B. we sallute you! xxx
It's not even the old guy that's the problem. It's his whore of a granddaughter. She complains that he could have ruined her career- she doesn't have, she's an ugly whore of a stripper who needs all the publicity she can get.
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO RUSSEEEELLLLL :'( I LOVE YOU!!! COME TO CANADAAAAA