johnny vegas

[Brainaddict]

My first thought on reading the Guardian article was: why haven't they tried to find and interview the girl before publishing this? Failing to do that just creates the impression they wanted a shock story rather than them actually caring that a girl might have been assaulted. I was disappointed in the guardian to be honest - it seemed like tabloid-worthy stuff without that missing piece of the puzzle.

 

[wurlycurly]

My first thought on reading the Guardian article was: why haven't they tried to find and interview the girl before publishing this? Failing to do that just creates the impression they wanted a shock story rather than them actually caring that a girl might have been assaulted. I was disappointed in the guardian to be honest - it seemed like tabloid-worthy stuff without that missing piece of the puzzle.

Precisely, but if O'Hara has been encouraged to write the story up a week after the event by Guardian grandees then it makes it much harder to find the girl in question, in which case they shouldn't have published, IMO. Also the Guardian headline is very, very strange, in that they directly accuse him of a sexual assault, an absolute no-no in pressland unless you can make the accusation fully stand up. Weird and weirder

 

[Wilf]

There were certainly problems with the Guardian article - hadn't looked for the woman involved + had the title 'Sexual Assault'. Don't get me wrong, if it was anything like as reported it was certainly an assault that was sexual in nature. But calling it a Sexual Assault allowed his defenders to get into the legalistic issue > 'Has she gone to the police, eh?' style comments. Might well in the end be treated as that by the police - note to lawyers: I've no idea whether it passes that test - but it took the focus away from a straightforward analysis of what Vegas did.

Yes, yes, I wasn't there - but even the defenders admit that he lifted her skirt up, touched her breasts - whilst others say there was reference to 'fingering'. When you throw in threats to kick her and telling her 'not to fucking move' well, words fail me.

 

[breasticles]

its pretty weird reading the comments on CIF about the article and seeing how many commenters respond by saying 'i can't possibly comment on what happened- i wasn't there', as if that isn't the whole point of journalism; reporting on occurrences for people who weren't there to see for themselves. i'm also bemused as to what the journalist in question is supposed to have done to find the girl a week later- how do you find a young woman who was in the audience of a theatre without knowing her name or any identifying info? that's not to say that i think the article is without fault- the whole 'get him off you' thing is ridiculous. a) he weighs about 94 stone, and b) why 'get him fucking off you' and not 'get the fuck off her'? because he's massive, probably drunk and pretty intimidating? well, you know, there you go. maybe she thought the same.

 

[_angel_]

If she wasn't part of the act it's pretty shocking.
If she was it sounds piss poor.

 

[MullahNasrudin]

i'm also bemused as to what the journalist in question is supposed to have done to find the girl a week later

She was there on the night -- what was stopping her from grabbing the woman immediately after the performance? I'm bemused that a so-called journalist could fail to perform the most basic of 'legwork'...

More to the point, I'd like to think that if I was witnessing a live sexual assault in a theatre, I'd be onto the nearest usher and demanding to see the manager to make an immediate complaint, instead of sitting in my seat as Mary O'Hara did.

All in all, I'm puzzled by her lack of response on the evening. OK, she may have felt too intimidated to intervene directly -- but that shouldn't have stopped her getting onto the staff at the venue. It's their job after all.

 

[snadge]

don't let your outrage get in the way of a good story....

let it play out without comebacks.

 

[dodgepot]

he's suing the guardian http://www.pressgazette.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=1&storycode=41131&c=1

 

[El Sueno]

Did anyone see him on Wossy giving his defence on Friday night? Made the whole thing sound like a mountain out of molehill, and Wossy certainly wasn't judging him. But from that moment on, the whole interview took a slightly strange turn, like the audience were frantically trying to make up their minds about him.

 

[Sweaty Betty]

Did anyone see him on Wossy giving his defence on Friday night? Made the whole thing sound like a mountain out of molehill, and Wossy certainly wasn't judging him. But from that moment on, the whole interview took a slightly strange turn, like the audience were frantically trying to make up their minds about him.

Yep...seemed pretty plausible to me....but he's guilty till proven innocent on here al;ready

 

[Citizen66]

I've met the guy, he's a friend of a friend and although not the funniest comic on the planet I couldn't see him behaving like what's being described tbh.

And misogynist? Na, not that either.