[Nicola_Red]

I think this is a complicated question to answer - I know you requested a simple yea or nay Aled but I personally don't feel it's quite so cut and dried.

I agree with ellipse's point above and I do think that the word ni$$er works as a point of comparison. I am bi and am close friends with many gay people (working in theatre as I do) and I'd never use "gay" to mean "crap". I just feel that it is a bit close for comfort to not be somehow linked to a perception of homosexuality as a bad thing.

In the case of Chris' use of it I don't feel he was being deliberately homophobic. I just don't think he had thought his use of the word through properly. I'm sure the conversation in question was unscripted and he spoke without really considering the impact of what he said. i suspect this is the case in his off-air conversations too - he's picked up the use of the word 'gay' to mean 'crap' without really thinking about it. I don't think there was any homophobic intention behind what he said or indeed behind anything else he says - if there was, he wouldn't be working with, or friends with, gay people.

Also, we can't be sure this comment in particular was aimed at Chris - for all we know, some other DJ has said something and we've missed it. Perhaps unlikely if it's a national radio DJ, but possible.

[Chris]

OK. I'm sorry.

Viv, I asked you in private last time - now I'm asking in public. Please don't perpetuate arguments, your posts often read as petty comments.

It's the last time I'll ask you to think before you post.

Thanks.

[Chris]

Not really related to the topic, and a bad picture as it was so far away from me when I got around to taking it, but having 'GAY 334' as the numberplate on your wedding car isn't a great start, or is it just me?

There was a bride and groom inside, before anyone asks.

DSC00112.JPG (14.26 KiB) Viewed 5537 times

[foot-loose]

I just found out yesterday that we did a gay wedding a couple of weeks ago. That explains why I was never told the brides name.

My dad was doing the driving for me and was a bit confuddled when two guys got in his car, he was expecting the bride and groom.

My dad doesnt agree with such things. It made me smile when he told me though. Knowing him, he has prob been summoning up the guts to mention it ever since.

[Aled]

Short answer: Chris' homophobia (or not as the case may be) is irrelevant. The language he uses is homophobic.

Longer answer:

Every time someone uses "gay" to describe something that sucks/isn't cool/whatever it cross-reinforces the belief that if something that is crap is gay, conversely anything that is gay is crap. I accept that when someone says "that music is so gay" they don't actually mean that it has a homosexual orientation, and they're expressing their dislike. But there is no way on earth that Chris could get away with saying "that's so ni$$er" - it just wouldn't be permitted by listeners at large, and rightly so. I know that there is currently no group that uses "ni$$er" in a colloquial way to describe "lamness/crapness" of things, but the point stands for comparison.

In fact, to take the example further, Chris wouldn't be able to say "that's so ni$$er" even if he was talking about Black/Afro-Carribean music because simply the word itself is offensive, and from that perspective so should gay be viewed. I'm not gonna get into a debate about Black people saying "ni$$er" - that's a genuinely different debate about reclaiming the words - but it seems to me that the outrage expressed by the British public at the treatment of Shilpa Shetty in BB earlier this year, which used far milder language than that, would support my view.

Finally, even though (as I believe) Chris is not homophobic, and that his use of "gay" is meant in the non-sexual-but-still-derogatory way, I think it's wrong. People in the public eye have a duty to try and shape the culture of acceptability - let's not forget that as a BBC DJ Chris is paid by taxpayer's money! That includes all the gay (and other) people who find his continued use of the word offensive. He has a duty in which he is currently derelict.

E

Chris broadcasts 15 hours a week, around 700 hours a year, almost 2,500 hours since being on breakfast and your entire argument, and that, it seems of other non-listeners to the show centres around 1 sentence.

Does the other 2,499 hours of broadcasting where we've discussed my boyfriend, my bunny boilerness, my exes, my parties and the time that the team and all our partners have spent together not count for anything? Where we've normalised my gay relationship, my sexuality and how my sexuality hasn't stood in the way of a healthy relationship and career. THis is listened to by all those same children who ministers assume are being damaged by Chris' words. Every morning at the family breakfast table. Is it really a fair argument to label his "language as homophobic" because of ONE example without the context?

Incidentally the part of your argument that is most incorrect is the final sentance "his continued use of the word" and highlights that you are also a non-listener otherwise you'd know he's never again used that word since the first time.

Presenters and producers whether they're commercial or "paid by taxpayer's money" aren't born with an immaculate sense of right and wrong as far as the audience is concerned. We are one of the best Radio stations for being as connected as possible with our audience and our language and styles will adapt along with the language and tastes of our audience. Considering there was no malice in the first instance and CHris has never used the word again, in fact the gay producer is an integral part of the show regardless of sexuality is entirely in the spirit of the BBC. One I'm very proud to be a part of.

Now listen to the show. We start at 7am

[ladbroke]

I agree with what Aled says, but the biggest problem is that all the people who were outraged probably didn't hear the show, and aren't regular listeners. They read the statement in the paper/on the internet, completely out of context and made a judgement. The whole feel of the show isn't at all anti gay IMO. Chris and Aled seem to have a very good working relationship.

Did Chris make a faux pas? Undoubtedly, if only for the fact that he left himself wide open for atack. Would I use the expression at work? No, as by some I could be deemed homophobic and possibly be in a disciplinary situation, but I have gay friends who wouldn't be at all bothered by it.

In short it is part of the youth vernacular which isn't connected with being homosexual, in the same way 'wicked' isn't used to mean evil or ungodly. Dialect, particularly youth dialect, evolves from words taking on new meanings.

[S4B]

Go Aled you tell them. The whole thing is ludicrous, just like the bullying accusation in another thread. For starters the BBC wouldn't tolerate that behaviour and secondly, and in my opinion more importantly, Aled wouldn't stand for it and he is a confident enough person to stand up to Chris if he was homophobic or a bully. Why can't everyone just enjoy the show and if they don't enjoy it then just find something else to listen to. (oh maybe that's cos nothing else is a patch on this show)

[Yudster]

Aled is a star.

[Boboff]

In his own mind he is, in reality he's a radio producer who continually gets chastised for * things up, and then broadcasting rubbish like all the forum hate Dave's Ramble thing.

*huff*

[Gaspode_The_Wonder_Dog]

See I don't like it when they talk about here on the show. Its talking about talking about the show and its just weird.

[Phil]

The prob is in these days ev1 is to PC and it really peas me off..

[Ballbag]

The prob is in these days ev1 is to PC and it really peas me off..

My prob is, ev1 is to dum n lzee to write in propr Inglish.

Phil, go forth from here, learn how to type, and then come back.

[Phil]

The prob is in these days ev1 is to PC and it really peas me off..

My prob is, ev1 is to dum n lzee to write in propr Inglish.

Phil, go forth from here, learn how two type, and then come back.

If u dt lk it thn dnt rd it! init!

[Ballbag]

Pillock....... please go away.

[Phil]

init!

[MK Chris]

Unfortunately for yourself, Phil, Forum Rules state:

No 'txt speak' - please use proper English ('lol' is not punctuation, nor is 'end of')

[Phil]

Unfortunately for yourself, Phil, Forum Rules state:

No 'txt speak' - please use proper English ('lol' is not punctuation, nor is 'end of')

That's Fine then.. He could have pointed that out to me.

[Ballbag]

Booyah!

Now behave, and you'll get by just fine.

[Zoot]

I'm posting in here, not to add my two cents as such, but just sharing what my understanding is with this whole 'Chris Moyles is Homophobic' view.

Not first off, I voted a big fat No in the pole above. I believe if he seriously was Homophobic, then first of all there isn't a chance in Hell he'd accept one as his producer, let alone call one his friend.

Now Sorry to bring Race into it, as I know the two are very far apart, but if Chris's producer was Black, and he would bring this up every so often, would he be labled a Racist? Its the same thing. Chris has done nothing to insult Homosexuals, he just brings up every so often that Aled happens to be one. If anything, it almost shows he comfortable with that. Surly the one person who would pick up on Chris being Homophobic is Aled, being someone who spends the majority of his working week with him. And here he is on here sticking up for the bloke.

So Aled, answer the same question, because you'd know more than anyone. Is Chris Homophobic?

This is just my Opinion. And yes, the Government has gone PC mad. They've even shut down guitar Tablature sites due to copywrite conflictions. It'll only be a matter of time before Music teachers will have to buy rights to teach their Students certain songs.

[Boboff]

Phil, go forth from here, learn how two type, and then come back.

to type surely ?

[bigbozz169]

no.

[thee moomin hunter]

dont gayers go on

[DemonHorse]

dont gayers go on

You sure do.

[thee moomin hunter]

i like that.

[Yudster]

I haven't changed my opinion about moomin hunter, whatever his assertions.