Thanks to Dysgwr_Cymraeg and ‘Is the BBC biased?’ for bringing this to our attention….just astonishing….and note the ‘complainant’, whilst he can hear an offensive word can’t actually get the name of the DJ right….David Lowe:
AND FINALLY….
AFTER more than 32 years of programme-making for the BBC and UK Independent Local Radio, I have hung-up my headphones for the last time. Why? Because I made a silly mistake. Yes, I know we all make mistakes, but where political correctness is concerned in UK today, there is no room for excuses or forgiveness. That said: let me stress here, I have no quarrel with anyone at the BBC in the West and South West. However, I do have issues with a repressive system that encourages wholly disproportionate reactions to innocent errors of judgement.
On April 27, I featured an 82 year old recording, one I’ve heard hundreds of times over the years, and even featured occasionally on my programmes. Unbeknown to me, however, that recording by Ambrose & His Orchestra of “The Sun Has Got His Hat On” contains a line of lyric that includes one of today’s ‘forbidden’ English language expressions … the “N” word! You’ve got to listen very carefully indeed to actually hear it but, yes, it is there on the recording.
I was alerted to my error by an email from the BBC management who had, in turn, received a complaint from a listener who, by his own admission, never listened to my programmes, but just happened to switch-on his radio sometime after 8 pm on Sunday April, 27.
Suffice it to say, the listener in question was “horrified” by what he heard, and added, “I hope that someone in authority will deal with Mr Young appropriately.” (He referred to me as David Young throughout his email, a copy of which was forwarded to me with the BBC complaint alert). By the way, I know of no other complaint. Of course, there may have been others, but none have yet come to my attention via post, email, Facebook, Twitter or on my Blog.
Nevertheless, I admitted my mistake immediately after listening closely to the ‘offending’ track. I then apologised to my BBC managers, and offered to apologise to the listeners at the beginning of, and again during, my programme on May 11. Alternatively, I offered to fall on my sword.
A series of emails between myself and the BBC ensued over the following few days, including one which stated, “We would prefer that you don’t mention anything about last week’s broadcast.” In the end, the BBC wrote to say, “Regrettably … we will have to accept your offer to fall on your sword to resolve the situation.”
Sorry folks, but I made a stupid mistake and I was left with no other option but to fall on my sword. In closing, however, let me say this: it has been an honour to entertain you for so many years, and I thank each and every one of you for your support for my efforts.
Kind Regards
David Lowe
Astonishing but even more so when you go to this BBC web page and scroll down to this:
Play the clip and the first words you will hear are ‘One less white nigger’
Who will be sacked?…I demand somebody is….get on Twitter now!!!!
And I see no reason why David Lowe alone should feel the heat…after all ITV was investigated by Ofcom for the same ‘offence’…so perhaps Tony Hall should also be taken to task….corporate responsibility and institutional racism and all that:
Ofcom has launched an investigation into the use of the N-word in the song The Sun Has Got His Hat On, broadcast on ITV1’s regional news programme Calendar News.
The ITV1 evening news show broadcast the line: “He’s been tanning niggers out in Timbuktu, now he’s coming back to do the same to you.”
Ofcom has launched an investigation into whether ITV broke UK broadcasting rules relating to harm and offence.
Ofcom eventually ruled that ‘the use of the word was a breach of its rules but took into account that ITV identified the error almost immediately on transmission, took steps to dip the sound during the repeat on ITV1+1, broadcast an apology during the later news bulletin the same day and took various further measures afterwards to ensure there was no recurrence of this problem.
The watchdog therefore considered the matter resolved.’
So what will Ofcom make of the BBC’s continuing use of the word in the ‘Oliver’s Army’ clip where they have clearly highlighted it despite knowing that it was offensive…having banned the word before?…
BBC digital radio station censors ‘One more widow, one less white n****r’ lyric in Elvis Costello hit Oliver’s Army
At least we`ve got our campaign song now!
Never even knew that song had the nigger word….but thanks to the BBC I do now….and it`s the Rights Anthem-if I hear others whistling or humming it, I shall doff my hat..hip hippy hooray!
This sad story also highlights the wicked monopoly the BBC has. If it weren’t more or less the only game in town (especially for broadcasters like Mr Lowe), it wouldn’t be able to make such attempts to control the language.
The current fuss is hard to figure
this daft furore’s getting bigger
I must admit it caused a snigger
a harmless, simple word like “nigger”…
Strange isn’t it ?
‘…BBC management who had, in turn, received a complaint from a listener who, by his own admission, never listened to my programmes…’
So we have a complaint from someone who never listens to his programmes, this after loads of complaints about Clarkson for something he didn’t say in a piece that was never broadcast.
Strange isn’t it? Not trusting the BBC any more, I start to wonder who these ‘members of the public’ actually are?
This has a bit of a feel of ‘gollywoggate’ about it.
The bBC has been infiltrated, the running order was known before this show aired, somebody was ‘tipped off’.
Not only was Ms Thatchers ‘misdemeanour’ leeked, it has to be remembered that the un aired footage of Clarksons utterance of the the word nigger was also leeked.
The only sure way to be rid of these insider cants is to close the whole sodding corperation down, not fit for purpose…..
and the BBC tried to force him to say that he was leaving to pursue new opportunities. Weaselly bastards
Nigger. There – I said it.
As an Englishman (and damn well proud of it) there isn’t a single word in the English language that I am not allowed to say. They are my words and I care nothing for anyone who objects!
However I wouldn’t say ‘cunt’ in front of my mother and I wouldn’t refer to anyone black as a ‘nigger’ because as an Englishman I am also civilised.
I look forward to the BBC removing Chis Evans from Radio Two for playing ‘Oliver’s Army’ and sundry others for the use of the word ‘nigger’ in any and all rap songs that include it.
What? Not going to happen? I wonder why?
Bob Dylan was honored by Obama. Remember his song, Hurricane:
And to the black folks he was a crazy nigger,
No one doubted that he pulled the trigger.
And the oh so “right on” Elvis Costello called Ray Charles a….
And James Brown a……
He apologised and life goes on – because he is a lefty and one of the chosen ones.
David Lowe makes a mistake and gets told to sod off.
What a bizarre story. Sounds like a set up to me. The man has lost his livelihood and that is serious. However he is probably better off in the long term as far away from the BBC as possible. Better for his health and peace of mind.
So a man plays a record with the word nigger in it. A person complains. He gets the sack.
Jeremy Hardy has been on the BBC for years referring to Tories (and by extension those that vote for them) bastards.
I complain. Nothing happens. He keeps getting invited back.
I do hope in 2016 when their charter is up for renewal they avoid those adverts claiming “it’s your BBC”.
What a ghastly piece of racist Nazi Fascist FILTH!
Don’t be fooled by the kindly, trustworthy grandfather image. Just look at the evil in those eyes. He’s the reincarnation of Reinhard Heydrich. Kill, kill the Nazi!
It seems that the BBC can be very quick to respond to complaints.
Quite amazing the speed of the complaint was acted on…most if not all are patronized and ignored.
And also Carol Thatcher’s remark also meant she had to go from The One Show (or “Nationwide” as we call that boring ‘magazine’ show in our house) but million-pound-generating-in-worldwide-sales Clarkson gets another chance at the beeb? Strange morals have the BBC.
Of all the times I have heard that song, and I started hearing it long before the hyper-sensitive PC Inventing Racial Abuse Everywhere Industry invented themselves, I had never noticed it contained that word.
I do now, thanks to the BBC, and henceforth I will sing along with it, the original version that is, with even greater enthusiasm, not for any reason connected with racial abuse but simply because I know it get right up the noses of the Beeboids and the rest of the PC Brigade fanatics.
Exactly. I said on another thread that my kids and now my grandkids hop around singing this happy song. I just have to say “1234 The….Sun has got his hat on” and off we all go. We don’t know the verses, we just know the chorus, that’s all we need to muck around.
I checked out the original recording – the N word comes in the first verse but you are already foot-tapping by then, you can hardly hear the word.
This was a song played in the middle of the Great Depression.
If you scroll down the gentleman’s blog post he lists the play-list of music he intended to play on his 11 May programme. Pure joy, most of it – and it appears he has a sizeable following. But no – the PC brigade at the BBC has got its man and effectively kicked him out.
I’d sack the whole damn lot of them – total PC fools.
No wonder he got sacked !
I mean didn’t the man realise that there is a remade version of this song by one of the BBCs approved artistes?
Jonathan King Now what could possibly be wrong with that?
Stiff Little Fingers were on the BBC many many times….
Lyrics maestro please…..
http://www.plyrics.com/lyrics/stifflittlefingers/whitenoise.html
Our brave fathers and grandfathers must be turning in their graves. They fought, and many of them died, to keep this country free.
Now, our state broadcaster, funded from our taxes, chooses to give in to the thought-police.
Well said Sir Arthur.
In fact the BBC are a cornerstone of the PC thought police.
PS Nice film clip too. The last bit always brings a tear to my eye. And interesting to note Robert Shaw in his first credited film jumping out of the Lancaster, in the days before he got involved with Rosa Klebb. Now she would have fitted in perfectly at the BBC….
The DJ simply played a record from the BBC’s library.
Ultimately, the DG must be responsible for the contents of the BBC’s library. That’s who should ‘fall on the sword’.
Their is something seriously wrong with me. I do not see what is wrong with the word nigger. I am seventy eight years old and have used the word in conversation and song for ever. Perhaps if the term whom it applies to adopted it, to describe themselves the sting (?) would go out off it. We could do with a sense of humour.
I passed the story on to Breitbart London this afternoon – they are running it as their top item right now. But maybe the Telegraph had already picked it up.
Meanwhile The Mirror is also running the story.
When will some clown at the BBC “fall on his sword” – or get the sack for bringing his employer into disrepute and public ridicule ?
http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/bbc-radio-dj-david-lowe-3523376
Better yet !!! It is the front-page banner headline of the Mail on Sunday.
And the Telegraph’s story is on the front page, smaller headline.
Does this mean that I can expect the BBC to ban all rapper songs which include the word cracker…(a derogatory slang for whites). Or if a DJ broadcasts the song and I complain that he/she will be treated in the same manner….
Or would it be likely that I would be lucky (!!) to get a response.
Perhaps, some people are just more equal than others in our diverse society
One other point ..Shouldn’t your header have been..
‘One Less Horribly White MALE Radio Presenter’
Can the odious pc beeboid who forced this man out not be made to fall on HIS sword? Do we have a name? Naïve I know, but after all, these BBC managers are meant to be working for the license payers.
This is an excellent point.. A ‘naming and shaming’ policy of the PC gauleiters within the BBC who enforce this stranglehold on thought is long overdue.
They deserve to be subject to the most intense public scrutiny so that we can find out just who they are and what is their motivation.
Not to make light of what happened to the poor chap (though he seems well out of a corporate entity that makes Game of Thrones seem like the Brady Bunch) it appears that the BBC has found a replacement who ticks all the BBC’s DJ boxes and is now available…
http://waltwhitemansworld.blogspot.co.uk/2014/04/fired-on-first-day-at-work.html
I can’t seem to remember any senior BBC staff being asked to ‘fall on their swords’ over Saville/Newsnight/McAlpine…some were moved out of the firing line temporarily but re-instated on excessive salaries and pensions. Not so for this poor chap.
Given other, and current events, I am a bit surprised that the BBC allows such a term in their big bookie-wookie PC lexicon lest folk get altogether the wrong idea.
I am sure I heard it on Radio 2 ,in the last couple of weeks , although, it could of been Absolute Radio or Gold . Listen to them in the main for the good music they play .
Olivers Army that is , didn`t Ed Stewart use to play “Sun has got his hat on ” on Junior Choice .
Has the bbc not forgot the Major’s definition of the Windies cricketers and India’s on Fawlty Towers. They still broadcast the original recording. Two un PC word for the price of one.
Until the BBC is disbanded I have to control my anger with whimsy. This morning, I thought wouldn’t it be good if we could get the song onto iTunes. Then we could start a campaign to buy it, forcing the BBC to play it as the most popular song in the country. Anyone know who owns the publishing rights, or, after 90-odd years, is it in the public domain?
Brilliant idea!
I think it’s this one:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Sun-Has-Got-His-Hat/dp/B001NC4YHO/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1399809623&sr=8-3&keywords=the+sun+has+got+his+hat+on
but I don’t know if Amazon downloads count towards the pop charts.
Doesn’t this tune feature quite often on Radio 4 Extra’s The Harpoon? But then 2008 was a different time.
Do you think that Spike Milligan’s Pakistani Daleks would get a replay on BBC. Somehow I don’t think it would get past the Orwellian BBC.
If only Spike was alive today…I am sure that he would have some priceless words on this one
Put – him – IN – THE – CURRY !
In “The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin” (1978), Reggie tries to buy a block of neighbouring houses. He plays upon the neighbours’ racist fears and has C.J. disguised as a West Indian, with a catchphrase of “Ah didn’t get where ah is today ….”
This was a documentary related in the pages of the Guardian who didn’t have the slightest compunction about using the word, and not just once but several times.
Might I suggest that following such an outrage the BBC ceases to have any involvement with such an obviously racist newspaper until the editor is fired?
Of course we know that won’t happen because there’s no such thing as ‘racism’ it only means what the bully at the time wants it to mean and the word used by one person is completely different when used by someone else who isn’t liked !
http://www.theguardian.com/media/2006/jan/02/ITV.schools
The sad point of this, and one I very much agree with is at the end of this paragraph:
“What’s the worst thing? “The verbal tics. NIGGER!” Now the voice sounds so deep within her, and so alien – like Chucky in the horror film Child’s Play. “So yeah. Sorry. PAKI! I’m not racist, but I say the worst possible thing that comes into my head.” It was back in 2003 that she first found herself using the word “nigger” after listening to the rapper Eve.
She takes offence when people call her racist. “I’ve got loads and loads of black friends. When I say it, I won’t make a reaction, I’ll just act normal. If somebody comes up to me and says, ‘What are you saying?’ I’ll say, ‘Oh sorry, I’ve got Tourette syndrome,’ and 99% of the people who are black will say, ‘Oh, I’m sorry.’ Even the baddest people, like the girls who are all ghetto and who will smack you and they just go, ‘Safe, safe, that’s fine’, and they’re normally really good about it. People have called me racist in the past and I could just kill them. Accusing people of racism is a bad offence.”
Yes accusing people of racism wrongly is a bad offence, so bad that it should be a criminal offence, then perhaps, just perhaps we might get a sense of proportion back into this country.
Now Boris Johnson says entire BBC Board should go and apologise to DJ, Mr Lowe, for its dreadful action.
‘Telegraph’ (£).
“BBC sacks veteran DJ after 32 years for playing ‘The Sun Has Got His Hat On’. . . because he accidentally played original version which includes the ‘N’ word.
“David Lowe, 68, gave 32 years of service to the BBC as a local broadcaster.
“But he lost his golden oldies show on Radio Devon for innocent mistake.
“Mr Lowe innocently played a 1932 version of The Sun Has Got His Hat On.
“He didn’t realise that the original version features the N-word.
“One listener complained, and Mr Lowe offered to apologise on air.
“But the BBC refused and insisted that he ‘fall on his sword’ by quitting.”
By IAN GALLAGHER
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2625248/BBC-sacks-DJ-playing-The-Sun-Has-Got-His-Hat-On-didnt-know-original-features-N-word-Clarkson-wasnt-fired-actually-saying-it.html#ixzz31Rbd8m1i
And let’s not forget the Beeboid sacking of Ms Sam Mason of Bristol Radio in 2008:-
“BBC Radio host sacked after call to taxi firm requesting ‘non-Asian’ driver”
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1084702/BBC-Radio-host-sacked-taxi-firm-requesting-non-Asian-driver.html#ixzz31RcsahEw
David Cameron: BBC unfair on Radio Devon DJ David Lowe
David Cameron has accused the BBC of acting “unfairly” after a local radio presenter lost his job because he played a song with racist lyrics.
But, even though at face value the bBBC are reporting that the PM thinks they ‘got it wrong’, they use the first line to repeat their silly meme that using the word nigger means that you’re a racist. The thought-Police again.
This was on a pre-recorded show!
Do they not run through pre-recorded material to check it’s not all silence?
Did they do this and discover the track, prime a complaint and rid themselves of someone too popular to sack for no reason?
Looks like this is habit forming at the BBC.
I take it any DJ who plays Public enemy will now face the sack?
The more sinister PC nonsense the better for UKIP in the Euro elections. First Clarkson now this, keep it coming fellas, you know you cant help yourselves…
Has anyone with balls been invited to Desert Island disks?
Ed Stewpot was always playing ‘The Sun has got his Hat on’. (showing my age). Never knew it contained the ‘N’ word. I think the ITV solution is good, its a great song apart from that.
Elvis Costello’s use of the word is acceptable. It’s all about context. The above use of the word invites us to accept it as acceptable.