Don't look at us, Guv!

    I've received a reply to my Peter Kay letter from the enquiries assistant at Comic Relief.

Thank you for getting in touch with us. Comic Relief believes in the power of entertainment to communicate serious messages and raise as much money as possible to help vulnerable people here in the UK and in Africa. Entertainers, comedians and professionals donate their time and talent to create a one off programme for Red Nose Day and we are extremely grateful for their support. The Night of TV is a light hearted and entertaining programme which does not aim to offend but we are sorry if you are unhappy about anything you saw.

  Comic Relief the charity does not make the Red Nose Day night of TV show so if you have any further questions or comments specifically about the broadcast the BBC is in a better position to answer them. Once again please accept our apology.

    If I may paraphrase it:

We believe anything goes, so long as it raises money for us

We have nothing to do with any of the stuff you see on TV with our logo and brand association plastered all over it. Go away and complain to someone else. Oh, and sorry.  

    I have to admit to being disappointed with this response. Since I didn't mention the BBC Comic Relief night of TV at all, instead talking about the record released by Kay and Boyle, I can only conclude she didn't bother to read my mail. Fair enough I guess, I do use long words. But I'm surprised at their lack of concern for their brand reputation. People like Kay are in effect brand licencees, they're not working for Comic Relief but they are trading on their brand. Thus the Comic Relief brand is a hostage to the licencees handling of it and it's up to them to keep an eye on that.
     I work for a global business whose branding and product is as widely known as Comic Relief's, if not more so internationally. Our product is licenced to many external companies, and I know damn well that if one of them brought our brand into disrepute my chief executive would raise one hell of a fuss, and sharpish! Hence my shock at Comic Relief's apparent lack of care for their brand.
    Still, if nothing is too offensive to make money for them and they don't care about the brand I guess they wouldn't be bothered next year if someone did a blackface show for them, after all it's all for charity! Just better not make it a stammering blackface show.
    I'm not sure whether to reply, or whether it would be a wasted effort.

A suitable candidate for the role

    When she was a recently qualified teacher in 1950s London, my mother saw Lawrence Olivier in the title role of Shakespeare's Othello. To play a Moorish general in the Venetian army, Olivier 'blacked up', applying dark make-up to achieve the appearance of an African.
    In those far-off times such a performance was the norm. Whatever slant a white actor might have brought to his portrayal of Othello's race as opposed to the rest of the character, the role was simply one of the standard great roles of Shakespearian theatre for any actor at the top of his profession.
    What a difference a few decades make. Because of the association between an actor blacking up and blackface parody acts, a white actor playing Othello is now an extremely rare occurrence. Patrick Stewart played the role as a white Othello among an otherwise all-black cast, but that production was sufficiently unusual to receive widespread press coverage during its run.
    This week's annoyance with Peter Kay's portrayal of a transsexual has brought the issue of the suitability of an actor to depict a group to which they do not belong to the fore. I have often heard mutterings from within our community when transsexual characters are played by non-transsexual actors or actresses: usually along the lines that there should have been some effort to find a transsexual person for the role. While I would warmly welcome the appearance of some openly transsexual performers I have to admit to finding some discomfort with the idea that transsexual roles should be reserved only for transsexual actors and actresses.
    I think it is necessary to examine for a moment what a member of the acting profession does for a living. They portray characters other than their own. A good actor can show you anyone in the world without relying on make-up or props, if a young man can show you an old woman as part of an improvisational monologue then why should he not also be able to show you a transsexual? The key is in the portrayal, if the performer has made the effort to depict the character with accuracy and respect then their performance is to be applauded rather than deplored.
    A good example of this can be found in Coronation Street's Hayley Cropper. Julie Hesmondhalgh - a natal female - plays this role admirably as just another female resident of the Street whose status as a post-op transsexual is never lampooned or otherwise taken advantage of. A perfect contrast to Kay's McQueen character or the Little Britain duo who are milking the situation for laughs no matter how they are achieved.
    I sincerely hope that one day I will see a non-transsexual comedian create a transsexual character who manages to be funny without crossing this line. I think this is possible, after all there is much to laugh about in our world without laughing at our expense even if some of us sometimes take it all a little too seriously.
    As to Othello, I doubt I'll see a white actor in the lead role within my lifetime. I consider this to be a shame not because I have an especial desire to see one, but because that we are not ready to see an actor doing his job of depicting people other than himself with dignity and respect due to discomfort about his race indicates to me that we still have a very long way to go in that particular direction.

Comic Relief: respected institution, now slightly tarnished

Dear Comic Relief team,
   I am writing to you to draw your attention to something which I
believe to be harming the reputation of Comic Relief.
   You will no doubt be familiar with the Peter Kay character
Geraldine McQueen, appearing alongside Susan Boyle in the current
Comic Relief single. What you may not realise about this character is
that she is highly offensive to the transgender and transsexual
communities as a crass and degrading stereotypical portrayal. Peter
Kay has not created a drag act portraying a natal female character,
such as Lilly Savage or Brenda and Audrey from the Bounty/Plenty
kitchen towel adverts, instead he is chasing a cheap laugh at the
expense of a vulnerable and marginalised group that does not need such
a negative mainstream portrayal of themselves forced on the public at
large. The unfortunate consequence of the Geraldine McQueen character
is likely to be that transgender and transsexual people will have to
endure a fresh catalogue of insults based on her catch phrases, and
unfortunately Comic Relief is helping achieve that.
   It might be tempting to believe that this is not something about
which you need to worry  because you see comparatively few visible
transgender or transsexual people on our streets. To that I'd respond
that the visible transgender people are only the tip of the iceberg.
If you were to look around the audience at the next Comic Relief gig
you might be surprised to find that as many as ten percent of them are
transgender even though they keep it hidden. If you passed me in the
street, for example, you wouldn't give me a second look as just
another bloke, yet I am transgender and have the medical diagnosis of
gender dysphoria to prove it. I am a member of a couple of
organisations for transgender people just within my particular segment
of the community who number their membership in the tens of thousands
including people like me plus transvestites, genderqueers and other
groups. I have even heard it said that we are more numerous than
people with red hair.  We number too many potential donors for a
charity to offend lightly.
   You have justifiably earned your position one of our most
respected charities through both the work that you sponsor and through
your founding principles such as that of the “golden pound”. You are
also inextricably linked through your founders with the alternative
comedy movement in the 1980s. It might seem a long time ago now, but I
remember alternative comedy as being characterised by not relying on
offensive stereotypes to derive its humour. I thus hope you'll
understand me when I say that to transgender people, a character like
Geraldine McQueen is about as offensive as perhaps a blackface parody
act might be to a non-white person.
   In conclusion, by allowing this character to feature so
prominently in your fundraising this year, Comic Relief have offended
a very large unseen potential donor community. It is obviously too
late to stop this association, however I would like to urge you to
avoid acts based on such offensive stereotypes in the future.
   If you would like to know more about the transgender community
then I would be happy to provide whatever information I can, or you
might find it informative to visit Trans Media Watch at
http://www.transmediawatch.org.uk
   Thank you for your time,

(Me-as-bloke)

If you too feel that Comic Relief have used the rather crass Peter Kay character Geraldine McQueen in error, you can contact them using the details at this link.

It's like playing Whack-a-mole

Geraldine McQueen (Peter Kay), as visualised by cows.

    Crass portrayals of trans people by unfunny comedians just keep popping up, don't they. I mean, you can't have a go at the black people any more, gays are off-limits, the South Africans aren't racist these days so who else is left for them to raise cheap laughs with but the trannies? I mean, give them a break! Otherwise they'd have to come up with some jokes and we can't expect that, after all they are only comedians.
     Just when you thought you were safe from Little Britain, along comes Peter Kay with his portrayal of a transsexual pop singer, Geraldine McQueen. I really wanted to believe that maybe, just maybe, this time it would be different, but no, it's one big tranny joke. Har bloody har. Fortunately I already have my review picture from earlier in the year.
    But of course, it's OK, after all it's all for charity, and that makes anything OK, doesn't it. Stick a red nose on something and it stops being at the expense of a vulnerable minority, right?