Strictly Make A Stand. Kick Him Out And Keep The Cat.

I was just sweeping leaves in the yarden, mulling over the current Strictly Come Dancing news and delivering a speech in my head about how long male comedians can get away with misogynistic not-funny humour by shielding themselves in the impenetrable cloak of irony. Then when I finally sat down to write this, I was struck by a very topical dilemma: shall I say something on Twitter, or just sit here in a sunbeam with my cat? How ironic. 

I’m referring to Rebecca Humphries’ magnificent letter to the people in response to her ex-partner, now and forever known as (n), if anyone remembers him next week, never mind next ever, and the doubly ironic absolute fact that aside from shining a light on his secret gaslighting, she’s funnier than him and took the cat.

I’ve got a suggestion for the BBC, I’m sure they’ll take it. I don’t have the figures to hand, but I would guess that the demographic for Strictly Come Dancing is largely women. As the BBC has an unresolved history of sexual abuse and sexual discrimination towards women, would it not be an honourable gesture to remove (n) from the show, not for his infidelity, but as a defiant statement against his abusive and now public gaslighting behaviour towards women? Surely if they don’t they are condoning it.

I expect there will be the usual squeals of what about “innocent until proven guilty”, but I and a growing band of merry women say Kavanaugh to that. (n) has revealed himself to be a vain and petulant man with his indignant outrage when Shirley Ballas criticised his hair, ffs. So offended was he, the show and Shirley had to explain themselves repeatedly stating that it was for ‘technical’ ballroom reasons. Get a grip.

The weekend continued to reached peak misogyny when (n)’s best mate Romesh Ranganathan, bluntly and brutally delivered a painfully set up climactic punch line on ITV’s The Johnathan Ross Show that his wife “is a bitch!”. Are we supposed to shovel our way down through the layers of Jim Davidson till we reach the irony in your septic tank of indignant suffering and cesspit of self pity because your wife apparently does not give a shit about you and your relentless moaning? Is this your ironic gimmick? Don’t get it.

There’s another thing, I’m a bit embarrassed to mention, don’t judge me on this and I hope it doesn’t invalidate my argument, it’s Big Brother....WAIT! Don’t go, it’s not going where you think it is. I’m assuming anyone reading this has no idea who is who on C5’s Big Brother, so bare with. On the first day a female contestant was removed for posting historical racist tweets, quite rightly, however a male contestant has been kept and escalated to hero status, in spite of historical sexist videos on his youtube channel. In addition to that another male contestant who hid from a male housemate because he was scared of him, relentlessly pursued and aggressively harassed a female housemate and eventually drove her to walk out. He is now hailed as a noble hero too. 

I should not have been watching, I know, however, is this a watershed moment in the misrepresentation of men on mainstream TV? Is it now? Strictly, we have reached saturation point, please make a noble gesture, make a stand, make a statement. It would make such a difference.