Jon Gaunt C/D

Morris Dancers vs. Ninjas, FITE!

(I think the Morris Dancers would win, actually...)

He's in Romford today, I think G should go round and pelt him with tomatoes

I feel sometimes that his reactionary scumbagness may well be an act, just occasionally I'd like toknow what he really thinks

Plus, I went through a long spell of listening to him every day and he read out a couple of my comments - it's always nice to hear your name on the radio...

x-post, natch.

Danny Baker's breakfast show is godlike, though.

Oh dear.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/7721220.stm

Srsly, this has to stop now.

suggest ban gaunty.

Suggest hang Gaunty, it's the only language he understands

You can't be a straight-talking man of the people like Gaunty.

It's all been downhill since The Champions.

Not be allowed to accuse local councillors of being members of the National Socialist party is POLITICAL CORRECTNESS GONE MAD!!!

But really, an end to this "daddy daddy thith man called me nameth" cotton wool culture.

It's not so much that as a " "daddy daddy i overheared thith man calling another man thith name"

but seriously, fuck intelligence, reason and civility on national radio.

It's Talk Sport, it's a load of fucking bollocks, it's crap, don't listen to it

It's sad that Talksport - which has no public sector obligations - succumbs to the whingers. Look forward to all day bland sports coverage hosted by a robot equivalent of Gold's "Dean Martin." I suppose it would cut costs.

i still occasionally tune into hawksbee and jacobs. the most i hear of gaunt is when they paly clips of him on a rant or fucking something up.

I don't listen to Gaunt and completely disagree with his viewpoint on more or less everything.

But if we're going to haul broadcasters off the air for speaking their minds because some oversensitive, underemployed soul's liable to get offended by it then we might as well vote in the Nazis at the next election.

speaking their "minds"

It's called "freedom of speech."

Just as listeners liable to get offended by right-wing dunghead 'phone-in hosts have the freedom not to tune in and listen to them.

Thing is he's said worse before, but about Guardian-reading wet Liberal politically correct loony lefties and not Conservative councillors. Note also that he apologised, which he's never done to any Guardian-reading wet Liberal politically correct loony lefties.

To be fair, if I were doing the equivalent show I'd find it pretty difficult to apologise to any Conservative councillors.

He knows his place, Gaunty, that forelock is being well truly tugged

I know he's secretly pining for Gordon to win the next election so he can have his contract extended by another four years.

If not he can always go back to being Simon LeBon's weed carrier like he was in the early 80s.

am in favour of suspending anyone who uses 'Nazi' as default insult for any restrictive measure they disagree with. be more imaginative.

It's common code, everyone who isn't an idiot knows what it means, and frankly councillors in general deserve to be shouted at and insulted, seeing as how we're paying their wages.

I dislike Gaunt anyway but as a professional he should not lower himself to cheap insults whatever the provocation. He was the presenter of the show. No-one expects TV presenters to do this during live debates, why should radio be different? Only question for me is whether punishment should be suspension or massive fine or both.

meanwhile (don't know if this was posted elsewhere):

BBC host replaced in 'racism' row
Sam Mason
Miss Mason presented Radio Bristol's weekday afternoon programme

A BBC radio presenter has been replaced over allegedly racist comments made during an off-air phone conversation.

Sam Mason, who took over the BBC Radio Bristol weekday afternoon programme six weeks ago, was suspended on Friday.

She was informed by station bosses on Saturday that she would no longer be working for the BBC.

According to The Sun newspaper, Miss Mason allegedly told a Bristol taxi firm "not to send an Asian driver to pick up her daughter".

The Sun said Miss Mason, 40, told a cab operator: "A guy with a turban on is going to freak her out."

Worker 'outraged'

When her request was refused, she is alleged to have said: "You've managed it before."

The taxi worker was said to be outraged and recorded the conversation, passing a copy to The Sun.

Miss Mason is reported to have called the taxi firm off-air as she played a song on her afternoon show.

A transcript of the conversation, published in The Sun, records how she ordered a taxi to take her 14-year-old from her Clifton house to her grandparents' home.

A BBC spokesman said: "Although Sam Mason's remarks were not made on-air, her comments were completely unacceptable and, for that reason, she has been informed that she will no longer be working for the BBC with immediate effect."

Sam Mason was not immediately available for comment.

The whole point about Gaunt is "cheap insults."

That's what he does.

That's why people tune in.

It's his schtick.

I mean, Newsnight for one thing would be immensely improved if Paxman had the right to call his interviewees stupid Nazis... ;-)

If Talksport have any guts they won't do anything and tell the professional offensees where to shove it.

As the BBC should have done with Brand and Ross.

Meanwhile, I see that the Nazi Broadcasting Corporation continues its clampdown.

Evidently anything any broadcaster says even when they're not on the air is now enough to get them sacked.

But hey, ambulance chasing taxi driver creams himself at the thought of easy money and rings up the Sun with A Good Story.

And so freedom of expression becomes as stifled as Iran or Zimbabwe.

Comparing the BBC to Naziism is just stupid.

more like Chamberlain '37 amicorrect

Hello Nazi

Surely all the racists had jobs under the Nazis?

Jewish racists probably didn't.

The Sun, of course, know exactly what they're doing. They have their highly publicised agenda when it comes to the BBC.

Basically the current, confused mess at the BBC and Talksport has nothing to do with what any broadcaster might have said, especially when they were not actually broadcasting (only two listeners were offended by the Brand/Ross incident at the time it was broadcast). Publicising comments not meant for transmission in the Sun is tantamount to deliberately publishing offensive material.

The important question here is should an unelected media cartel be allowed free rein to dictate broadcasting, legal and governmental policies in Britain? If we shrug our shoulders and agree, then we need to start digging some new air raid shelters because the next Hitler or Stalin is just over the hill, advancing towards us.

The BBC and Talksport should have stuck by their guns and suspended and fired no one. Especially not on the basis of a taxi driver who's so offended that he immediately telephones the Sun.

If pseudo-righteous anger is to be allowed to ferment for reasons principally to do with the vested economic interests of multinational media conglomerates, and if the public are going to be sufficiently stupid and complacent to fall for it, then society is in dire trouble.

But Gaunt works for the Sun too

And isn't he basically a hero to Sun readers everywhere?

I'm with you on Gaunty, ffs he's supposed to be an offensive oaf but the woman who asked for a non-Asian taxi driver WAS being racist surely? And saying her daughter would freak out at the sight of a man in a turban says more about her upbringing than anything else.

Also just because we pay someone's wages doesn't mean we have the right to insult them (but I still agree with you about Gaunt)(but I just wanted to stick up for people who might get insulted because Marcello pays their wages)(or am I taking this too seriously, as per usual?).

Marcello, the woman at BBC Bristol made inexcusable comments and deserved what she got.

What did Gaunty have to say on B***d and R*** I wonder? Given that, I assume, his constituency consists of largely of herberts who were baying for B***d and R***'s blood, there is a certain amusement to be derived from his plight.

She made comments off the air.

Show me someone who's never made an offensive remark in the pub or otherwise off the record and I'll show you a liar.

For instance, there are several prominent broadcasters I can think of who I've got good reason to believe would readily agree with her but they do not express their views on air.

Who gives a fuck what they think or how they vote or what they say when they're not broadcasting?

If the BBC are going to be that paranoid then they might as well get rid of humans altogether and just hire robots to adhere to a safe dictionary of "appropriate" words so that no one gets offended, and no one listens.

If the BBC are going to be that paranoid then they might as well get rid of humans altogether and just hire robots

Unfortunately they let Steve Rider go to ITV

Talksport generally only suspend and then sack presenters when the station is looking to get rid of them anyway. Happened to Tommy Boyd and James Whale in the past.

And what a loss they were to the listening public.

Boyd had one of the best shows on the radio at the time, so yes.

I hope every closet racist working for the BBC gets sacked, not just one woman from Bristol. If what Cap'n Save-A-Racist up there says is correct, then the BBC hasn't gone far enough.

Again, with Boyd there were economic vested interests at work in that Talksport wanted a stake in his wrestling franchise and the Queen Mother incident was a convenient excuse to get rid of him.

If every closet racist in Britain were sacked from their job there'd be 50 million unemployed.

She wasn't a closet racist she was racist to a complete stranger. Sack her (and we pay her wages so...).

Well, you're playing right into Murdoch's hands if you believe that, which fundamentally I don't believe you do.

She made an unthinking remark to a complete stranger who promptly telephoned a national newspaper to make a quick buck. It's not exactly Rosa Parks.

Again, with Boyd there were economic vested interests at work in that Talksport wanted a stake in his wrestling franchise and the Queen Mother incident was a convenient excuse to get rid of him.

― the gaunty from the hilarious 'alan titchmarsh show' comics (Marcello Carlin), Tuesday, 11 November 2008 14:37 (5 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

And who was the public face of Boyd's wrestling franchise? "The Showstealer" Alex Shane, former boyfriend of... Satanic Slut "Voluptua".

Circles within circles, man.

Indeed! It all connects!

If I ordered a taxi at work and told them not to send an Asian driver and this was then reported to my superiors, I think I would fully expect to receive my P45 with a bullet.

I suppose I do agree though that Taxi Man was a cunt for telling the Sun and not just informing her bosses, though.

Though

The Sun = The Nation's Champion and Upholder of Political Correctness

I suppose I do agree though that Taxi Man was a cunt for telling the Sun and not just informing her bosses, though.

problem here is that her bosses may not be trusted to punish her accordingly whether thru incompetence or dubious 'well as long as the press don't find out we'll keep you on' reasoning

If she was doing this at work then yes, the taxi driver should have informed her boss and appropriate action should have been taken. No argument there.

But he recorded the conversation - which sort of implies that he didn't do the above - and went straight to the Sun.

To me that renders his complaint invalid.

I see no further action has been taken against Graham Norton or Frank Skinner regarding their racist remarks on BBC2 last Thursday (repeated on Sunday).

Oh yes, I forgot; hugely paid celebrities are more expensive to sack than dispensable local radio presenters.

Skinner's joke wasn't racist, just rubbish. no worse than Toby Young's dumb "Obama's not black, he's beige" observation on HIGNFY.

However they can be suspended without pay for 3 months (xp)

x-post What was said by Norton and Skinner?

The general BBC reaction to Obama's election is cynical and shameful and they should be censured on that basis alone.

All the Mason affair will achieve, though, is another martyr, and another nail in the coffin of the backbone-less BBC.

A martyr to who?

What was said by Norton and Skinner?

Skinner more or less said "hey not all black Presidents are great, look at Mugabe" to a mild smattering of chuckles

but then some think getting Dizzee Rascal onto Newsnight as 'inane comic relief' is racist too. but Dizzee knows his own mind and could have either refused, complained after or brought some insightful comment but did none of these things.

Funnily enough (xp), to those who would do down and close down the BBC ("Politically Correct Sacking" etc. with the sensitivity that the Sun didn't show with regard to, say, Frank Bruno when he had his problems).

I think Dizzee took the whole thing in good humour and that Paxman question was in direct response to a point raised by Baroness Amos so it was hardly patronising.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/henryporter/2008/nov/26/jon-gaunt-shami-chakrabarti-talksport

Gaunt frequently disparages the Human Rights Act and has called Chakrabarti "the most dangerous women in Britain"

wd

didn't Gaunt agree with those who said Ross should be sacked? sort of interested in how he'd go about arguing that what he did was OK but what Ross did wasn't.

he would have to be massively hypocritical. i reckon he can pull that off tho.

The word here is "karma." People who make a living yelling about the perpetrators or victims of imaginary crimes will in turn yell when they become the victims of false allegations. But of course by then it will be too late. Paul Dacre and Rebecca Wade would do well to take note when their turn comes.

10.15am: Gaunty is getting a little confused, giving out the TalkSport text number. Well, he did work there for a long time.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/organgrinder/2009/apr/20/sun-radio-live-jon-gaunt

I can have an opinion and so can the listeners. We will let people speak from the heart - Gaunty

I prefer American jocks such as Howard Stern and Rush Limbaugh.

There's a massive six Twitter posts about this and four whole blog posts in Google search.

What a success.

the guardian blog on this is pretty funny

12.13pm: Esther Rantzen's on, and we're talking cruising. "You're a big fan?" asks Gaunty. "I am a huge fan, I am addicted." Apparently taking to the high seas has never been so popular, according to the Sun's travel editor and a chap from P&O. Just don't use the laundrette, suggests Rantzen. People are always taking your underwear out and putting there's in. "Do what I do, and wash them in the bath." Rantzen's undies in the bath? On a boat? The P&O chap, presumably hoping for a few extra bookings out of this appearance, has just had his dreams shattered into a million tiny pieces.

Most interesting thing about this was Gaunty's squeaky voice.

Also his calling Cameron "Prime Minister" - oh, the hilarity.

gaunt is such a craven toady

rip gaunty

http://i.imgur.com/htlBM.jpg

iirc I liveblogged myself reading this book on Facebook a few years ago

he *really* likes the band The Enemy

love ian wright's quote on the book cover: "He's always fought for what he believes in". exactly how has gaunty fought for anything? besides being a grating blowhard tough guy from the safety of a radio studio.

The "plebgate" row is also threatening to tear apart the Police Federation, the organisation representing police interests. Senior members are known to be angry at the PR tactics deployed by its West Midlands branch as it sought to heap pressure on Mitchell, a local MP.

The West Midlands Police Federation employed the radio presenter and former Sun columnist Jon Gaunt to advise it on a campaign to protect its members from cutbacks. Its members were given media training and, once Plebgate erupted, they were issued with "PC Pleb" T-shirts that ensured the Mitchell row enjoyed sustained newspaper coverage.

Many officers see in Gaunt as a champion of their rights. The son of a police officer, Gaunt is hailed as "the monster who roars for coppers" on the website of the Metropolitan police federation.