Thursday, October 11, 2012

Ofcom received more than 1000 complaints about the X Factor results programme last Sunday. This was from Newsround on Wednesday at 4.25pm -

Leah: Next, to the latest X Factor drama. And the TV watchdog, Ofcom, is looking into complaints about Sunday night's sing-off. In the last hour they've told us that they've had more than one thousand complaints this series after Carolynne Poole left the show on Sunday night, following a controversial sing-off result which saw Louis send the judges' vote to deadlock. Gary Barlow walked off. It's not the first time the X Factor has received complaints from viewers, of course.

Today Newsround reported what Olly Murs had to say about the show. This was from the early afternoon programme -

Leah: Finally, we caught up with Olly Murs today. He says he's frustrated that people are accusing the X Factor of faking things for extra drama. He was speaking about last week's show when Louis Walsh caused Gary Barlow to storm off live on air, which upset lots of viewers.

Olly Murs: It's upsetting when people say it because I've been part of the show, and behind camera it does get feisty down there. But it is about the contestants, and when I was a contestant on the show I'd hate to think that my show was a fix - that it was fake.

Gary Barlow's disdain for Rylan Clark was obvious on the Saturday night X Factor live show. After receiving high praise from Louis, and more muted praise from Tulisa, it was Gary's turn -

Gary Barlow: Rylan, I am back on the show this year. There's one thing I wanted to change from last year - I wanted to have some fun this year. And I really was having fun till you started singing tonight. (audience jeers) I thought that was .. I'm embarrassed to be sat here. And you know what, I said 'no' to you at the first audition. Which means you (points to Tulisa) should be ashamed of yourself; you (points to Louis) should be ashamed of yourself. And Nicole I don't know how you've even shown up here tonight ....

Gary Barlow & Nicole Scherzinger on X Factor (6th October 2012)


One issue not reported by Newsround is the fact that Rylan Clark had been eliciting a large number of hate messages on social networks like Facebook and Twitter. Many of the offensive tweets were also homophobic in nature. This one is typical of hundreds - if not thousands - of others.

In October 2008 the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child said urgent measures were needed to address intolerance and discrimination against vulnerable groups in the United Kingdom, including LGBT children. The Committee was
"concerned at the general climate of intolerance and negative public attitudes ... which appears to exist in the State party, including in the media, and may be often the underlying cause of further infringements of their rights."

Regrettably, four years later and BBC children's TV has still done nothing to directly address the issue of homophobia and homophobic bullying. No wonder the level of prejudice seems to be on the increase, rather than on the decline

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