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I think that at this moment Billy C is kicking himself for his comments, tried to be funny, be topical and toatlly misjudged it. I would not deliberately turn him off if he was on TV I just don't think I would find him that funny anymore if this is the sort of thing he bases his humour on. I know some of you will say that it was one "joke" in a whole repetoire but it just taints him for me I'm afraid. Same goes for Barrymore but on an even larger scale.
In fairness to Billy, I have read comments from people who were actually at the gig where this "outrage" supposedly happened. The people who were there say that it has all been blown out of context by the press, and he was actually making a joke about human behaviour. How although we are all horrified by what is happening, we still switched on the tv every morning to see if he is still alive. I know I did.
I think his comment about "Why don't they just get on with it" was taken wrongly. We all wanted the ordeal to be over with, but obviously not in the way it ended.
I think it is all too easy to make Billy Connolly a scapegoat. He says what people really think and lack courage to say, he never was and never will be P.C.
I don't remember anyone being this outraged when Graham Norton made a very distasteful commment about Maurice Gibb as he lay dying in hospital and I find that much more distasteful.
The following is a statement from Mr Connolly website
STATEMENT REGARDING REPORTS OF REMARKS FALSELY ATTRIBUTED TO BILLY CONNOLLY ABOUT KEN BIGLEY
Billy Connolly is angry and disgusted by reports that he joked about Ken Bigley being harmed.
Billy's stage comments were restricted to pointing out the hypocrisy of some people including sections of the media faking concern about Mr Bigleys predicament while enjoying the drama of the tragedy and exploiting it for their own ends.
Like everyone else Billy Connolly is desperately saddened by the news of Ken Bigley's death and his thoughts are with the family.
I am, and continue to be, a BC fan. I think that a lot of Billy's appeal is his ability to skate close to the edge, often thinking and speaking simultaneiously. This carries a degree of risk, and as has been said previously, I would need to hear the remarks in context before making a judgement. Similarly, Rick Mayall was castigated for making a joke about children in a fridge at a time when two tots had died in an abandoned freezer. The media tore him apart for being insensitive, but I saw him perform the same routine twelve months earlier, with the joke included, and I'm sure routines are learned by rote, and Mayall apologised profusely to the audience for any offence - not that such action saved him from the media.
It appears BC was misquoted to make headlines - an occupational hazard for a cutting edge observer of the human condition.
There seems to be some confusion going on here and I am also at a loss as to the truth of what happened. It is human nature to discuss sensitive subjects, mostly to satisfy our own morbid curiosity.
However I do not believe that the phrase 'don't you wish they'd just get on with it', which is the line that has been quoted and admitted to can be found funny whilst talking about the possibilty of a man being murdered in cold blood for terrorist means. I understand that the press can sit on a story and throw it at you constantly in order to seel their daily rags or air time but perhaps a little more sensitivity could have been shown. What annoyed me totally are the reports that when Billy was reminded that it was a mans life at stake, he simply threw abuse at the gent in the audience. Billy was an idiot not to take this oppotunity to state where he was coming from so that his intentions could not be open to interpretation. As it was, he can release all the statements he wants to, it's too late and you're not the intelligent comedian I assumed you to be Mr Connolly.
Billy Connolly isn't the first person to tell a joke in bad taste or make a comment in bad taste.Joan Rivers revealed last week on Parkinson that she told 9/11 jokes.The problem here was the situation that Ken Bigley was in.Frank Skinner was somebody that cracked jokes about Matthew Kelly when he was in that spot of bother but i didn't go off Frank Skinner because of that.
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