Jonathan Ross and Russell Brand News
admin | November 6, 2008
Jonathan Ross and Russell Brand have been suspended from the BBC and all their shows taken off air – this has been confirmed by director general Mark Thompson.
The decision came after the BBC launched an inquiry into the pair’s behaviour after they made prank phone calls to Fawlty Towers actor Andrew Sachs and aired them on Russell’s Radio 2 show on October 18.
Both stars have since apologised to Sachs for their actions, but the BBC decided to suspend the highly-paid pair after they received over 10,000 complaints, and both Gordon Brown and David Cameron spoke out about the incident.
Ofcom announced it is investigating whether the prank calls broke the broadcasting code, which sets standards for the content of all UK TV and radio programmes.
Russel Brand has since resigned from the BBC after he was suspended and has severed any links he had with the pubcaster. Brand has said he takes complete responsibility for the obscence messages left on the answer phone and hope the BBC will endure “less forensic wrath” now he has backed down and resigned. Brand has also said, “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.”
Jonathan Ross’s ‘Friday night with Jonathan Ross’ has also been taken off air and he has been suspended from work with the BBC for three months unpaid, although considering he gets paid six million a year – i don’t think missing out on three months pay will be too much of an issue for him…
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