Claire Balding complains to the PCC over AA Gill.
 

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010...complaint-gill

However the most intelligent thing I have heard all month is from AA Gill's boss:

Wholeheartedly agree. And there are far more people than the gay community who should take that advice. Gay people say they want equality and be treated like everyone else and as Gill's boss says that includes being the butt of a joke occasionally like us heterosexuals are.

And finally with no sense of irony John Prescott chimes about Gill insulting Balding by calling Gill "a ****"

Re: Claire Balding complains to the PCC over AA Gill.
 

Being a lesbian and presenting a program with 'bike' in the title, is slightly asking for it.
In the article he went on to praise her.
Perhaps the other girl presenters who are described as 'winsome and coquettish', should complain. They are the ones actually being criticised/put down in the article.

Even she acknowledges that he was being nice about her. She said:-

Re: Claire Balding complains to the PCC over AA Gill.
 

Gill has a rich history of being racist so it doesn't surprise me to learn he's still deliberately offending people.

Re: Claire Balding complains to the PCC over AA Gill.
 

Wasn't it Ms Balding who made offensive comments about a jockey's teeth? Pot, kettle, black...

Re: Claire Balding complains to the PCC over AA Gill.
 

I like Clare Balding and really don't care about her sexual preferences.

I think a persons sexual preference should be kept private between them and their partner.

As being heterosexual is not in the slightest bit newsworthy why should being homosexual create such a furore.

Who are all these people that give a fig?

Re: Claire Balding complains to the PCC over AA Gill.
 

mostly gay people

Re: Claire Balding complains to the PCC over AA Gill.
 

No, she was saying he could get his teeth fixed, because most jockey get them kicked out, this jockey hadn't.

The jockey in question wasn't offended, so no problems.

Re: Claire Balding complains to the PCC over AA Gill.
 

That's because he wasn't a member of one of the groups that are the only only ones permitted to be offended, plus it came from someone from one of those groups.

Re: Claire Balding complains to the PCC over AA Gill.
 

Oh - maybe the BBC has it wrong:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-10817463

Re: Claire Balding complains to the PCC over AA Gill.
 

The jockey wasn't offended just some stupid people with nothing better to do with their lives that complian to TV.

Re: Claire Balding complains to the PCC over AA Gill.
 

I'm glad she's complained, how is mocking hetrosexual Jeremy Clarkson's dress sense (or lack of it) in any way comparable to this? Is AA Gill next going to write a piece about a persons race, religion or disability maybe using derogatory terms in the process? of course he could then add "but some of them are nice people" as that then makes it Ok.

The man is just typical journalistic ****!

Re: Claire Balding complains to the PCC over AA Gill.
 

As opposed to the persistent anti-English racism in Welsh society?

Re: Claire Balding complains to the PCC over AA Gill.
 

Fully agree. I hate people who take offense to something just to get a few minutes of exposure.

Re: Claire Balding complains to the PCC over AA Gill.
 

"Persistent"? Over egging it a bit there. I don't recall any Welsh celebrities making repeated anti-English comments.

Re: Claire Balding complains to the PCC over AA Gill.
 

Or he could just have been calling her a member of a Lesbian Biker Gang

Re: Claire Balding complains to the PCC over AA Gill.
 

oops pmsl :rofl: :D

Re: Claire Balding complains to the PCC over AA Gill.
 

I've never heard of someone being violently attacked because of the state of their teeth. Homophobia is still rife in our society - encouraging that hatred and bigotry is no different than encouraging racism. In short, don't encourage the morons who'll use homosexuality as an excuse to be violent.

Re: Claire Balding complains to the PCC over AA Gill.
 

I've always thought that a journalist's job is to report the news not be the subject of the news..:scratch:

Re: Claire Balding complains to the PCC over AA Gill.
 

I suppose the issue is that her sexuality was nothing to do with the program and it seems to be that because she is gay she must now allow that to be the main thing she is know for, even if presenting a completely different topic it must be viewed in the context of her sexuality. I can see why she would fine that irritating. I can also see how it might desuade others in the public eye from coming out when they see the reaction they will get.

Not sure it's too offensive. It's obviously a rather cheap little dig from a cretin but no different to other snide personal remarks he might choose to make about other sectors of society.

Re: Claire Balding complains to the PCC over AA Gill.
 

I have no desire to see Claire Balding exposed for a femtosecond let alone a few minutes. Though notably she seems to have a double

https://www.cableforum.co.uk/images/...2010/08/96.jpg
Could she be related to

https://www.cableforum.co.uk/images/...2010/08/97.jpg

Robert Prescott from the movie 'Real Genius'?

Re: Claire Balding complains to the PCC over AA Gill.
 

I enjoyed her programme, showing us interesting scenery away from the normal car routes.

She's gay? What on earth has that to do with the quality of the programme?

Re: Claire Balding complains to the PCC over AA Gill.
 

Exactly!

Re: Claire Balding complains to the PCC over AA Gill.
 

What was it that everybodies Mum's used to say? "If you can't say anything nice, then don't say anything at all".:)
If people stuck to this we would never hear a word from the likes of Gill, Littlejohn and many other loud-mouths who get paid for being obnoxious.

Re: Claire Balding complains to the PCC over AA Gill.
 

If people didn't buy the newspapers they write for, and therefore pay their salaries, we would never hear from these poor excuses for journalists.

Re: Claire Balding complains to the PCC over AA Gill.
 

Thankfully the circulation of British papers has been falling gradually for years now, helped along by a staggering 25% fall in sales between 2007 to 2009.

Re: Claire Balding complains to the PCC over AA Gill.
 

Most of the forums members would need to be quiet as well ;)


CB is a dyke ? Never knew that. Seems she is way too over sensitive about it tho - maybe she is embarassed to be gay and it hit a nerve ....

Re: Claire Balding complains to the PCC over AA Gill.
 

That's just it, he DID says something nice. He praised her presentation. It was the presentation of others(mostly, if not all heterosexual) that he actually complained about.:rolleyes:

Re: Claire Balding complains to the PCC over AA Gill.
 

https://www.cableforum.co.uk/images/...2010/08/46.gif

I don't think CB has ever hidden it, but I don't think she has gone out of her way to broadcast it either. Something which I respect her for. After all, who she sleeps with has no bearing on how well she presents TV.

Re: Claire Balding complains to the PCC over AA Gill.
 

I think your correct Stuart, I'd imagine she is like the vast majority of people in the UK in that her sexuality just isn't an issue in her work life, shes good at her job end of story why anybodies sexuality should be the issue of public debate purely because some non entity tries to get a low brow laugh says more about A A Gills lack of comedic skill.
"Dyke on a bike"....ooo-er bet that one took a while to formulate.:rolleyes:

Re: Claire Balding complains to the PCC over AA Gill.
 

So why such a fuss then. She should just have laughed it off and carried on as normal. Too much fuss over nothing, seems to be a common complaint these days, everyone getting offended over non events.

Re: Claire Balding complains to the PCC over AA Gill.
 

Maybe she doesn't like the thought of someone else broadcasting it either?

Re: Claire Balding complains to the PCC over AA Gill.
 

Also we haven't got rid of our prejudices overnight..some of us females find ourselves being defensive about entering some male dominated workplaces even in the 21st century let alone admitting we might like girls rather more than boys..

One's ability to do a job should count the most with anyone and anyone who thinks it just a matter of dealing with workplace joshing had better think again.Being heterosexual has never been an issue for hetros so we can't even begin to know what it is like to constantly have what you do in the privacy of your bedroom made a joke to undermine you in the workplace.

Surely a journalist can make criticisms without resorting to this sort of level of innuendo?Try to keep it professional about someone's profession.

Re: Claire Balding complains to the PCC over AA Gill.
 

How many more times?:banghead:
He praised her presentation, it was the presentation style of heterosexuals that he actually criticised. It is those others who should complain for being described as 'winsome and coquettish'.

Re: Claire Balding complains to the PCC over AA Gill.
 

Actually, as Claire Balding herself said in a letter to the Times (no link due to paywall), it was the use of the perjorative and derogatory term "dyke" which she found offensive, and the fact AA Gill needed to point out that she was a lesbian - he doesn't mention the fact about other people being heterosexual when he reviews their programmes, so why raise the point tha that she is gay?

Re: Claire Balding complains to the PCC over AA Gill.
 

The reason for using the word dyke has more to do with the title of the programme ie Britain by Bike, than anything else.

He was referring to, and putting down the presentation skills of heterosexual women.

As the response to her complaint pointed out, people like Jeremy Clarkson are frequently referred to, in a very nasty way. Would she have like to have been portrayed in a cartoon in this manner? Would any gay person be allowed to be portrayed in that manner, no matter what they had said or done, especially in publications like that one.

Re: Claire Balding complains to the PCC over AA Gill.
 

To be fair Clarkson dishes out just as much to everyone else.

Re: Claire Balding complains to the PCC over AA Gill.
 

:banghead:Some people will never get it!!!

To make it really simple how about this, would it be OK to have made a crack about say Lenny Henry in the late 70's whereby the comment praised his skills as a comedian and singer, but in the same article described him as "the c*** who could hold a tune"?
How is the above example any different to what you are defending?
As regards people being offensive to Clarkson...so what, he has purposely brought that on himself by making a living out of being contraversal and offensive, CB hasn't.

Re: Claire Balding complains to the PCC over AA Gill.
 

:tu:

Why should she let that be the defining aspect of her public personality to the extent that even a review of a unrelated program has to make snide comments about it.

Re: Claire Balding complains to the PCC over AA Gill.
 

Clare Balding's complaint has been upheld by the PCC :D

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-11333484

Excellent news!