Russell Brand Quits the BBC, Jonathan Ross Suspended Over On-Air Prank

By | Posted on October 29th, 2008

  • Go on holiday for a couple days, and look what happens: MTV VMA host Russell Brand has resigned from his radio host gig at the BBC over a prank phone call he and Jonathan Ross made to 78-year-old Fawlty Towers actor, Andrew Sachs. During Brand’s Radio 2 show on October 18th, the pair left a message on Sachs’ answering machine, with Ross exclaiming that Brand had “f**** his granddaughter.” As BBC NEWS reports, “More than 18,000 people have complained to the BBC while watchdog Ofcom has launched its own investigation.” They’ve even offended Prime Minister Gordon Brown, who said they exhibited “inappropriate and unacceptable behavior.” No word on whether Jonathan Ross will follow Brand out the door at the BBC.
  • Russell Brand was just being Russell Brand, says The Times‘ Andrew Billen, but Jonathan Ross has suffered “permanent damage.”
  • When Jonathan Ross said Russell Brand had bonked Andrew Sachs’ granddaughter, he wasn’t lying: Georgina Baillie admits having sex with Brand but adds he deserves to be sacked for his prank. “Russell Brand has embarrassed me by making a private relationship very public in the cruelest way imaginable. We were lovers but I trusted him as a friend as well. He has betrayed me for a few cheap laughs and left my grandfather distraught. Is that what the BBC calls entertainment?” (The Sun)
  • Channel 4 stands behind Brand, who has a show on that network as well.(Chortle)
  • Piers Morgan uses the controversy to settle a personal score with Jonathan Ross in The Daily Mail.
  • Madonna had a “marriage contract” with Guy Ritchie to control his behavior: The Sun reports that “Guy, 40, was instructed never to shout at Madge, 50, but instead look her in the eye and say: ‘I understand that my actions have upset you, please work with me to resolve this.’ The marriage rules said both parties must ‘devote time to our sexual expressiveness’ and ‘not use sex as a stick to beat one another’. ”
  • Sir Tom Jones apologizes to his wife in song.(The Times)
  • In an interview with The Guardian‘s Paul MacInnes, Roger Moore gives his take on Daniel Craig’s Bond “I was a lover, he’s a killer.” Tangent: don’t you want to run your fingers through Paul MacInnes’ lush ginger hair?
  • Lily Allen is “the Wordsworth of her generation,” according to her publicists. The Guardian‘s Marina Hyde is suitably appalled.
  • The Times of London is ranking all the U.S. presidents. Someone actually ranks lower than Bush!
  • Kerry Katona has (quite wisely) fired her publicist.(The Sun)
  • Kerry “has been sobbing uncontrollably while watching endless YouTube clips of her shambolic This Morning appearance.”(Mirror)
  • An X Factor boy band strips off.(The Sun)
  • Keira Knightley smooches a hot French actor for a new movie.(Daily Mail)
  • Dido is back.(Telegraph)
  • Led Zeppelin without Robert Plant? Unthinkable, say fans.(NME)
  • Fashion designer Tom Ford will direct a film adaptation of Christopher Isherwood‘s A Single Man, and Colin Firth, Matthew Goode, and Yankee Julianne Moore are attached,according to Hollywood Reporter.
  • Is Gordon Ramsay ditching London for Dubai?(Digital Spy)
  • Girls Aloud have racked up their fourth No. 1 hit and their first since their 2007 collaboration with Sugababes, a remake of “Walk This Way.” This time, they go for retro, girl-group elegance with “The Promise,” the first single from their new album, Out of Control (which comes out in the UK next Monday). They dethrone Pink from her perch; she falls to No. 2. This week also sees entries from Razorlight and Katy Perry, who avoids one-hit wonderdom with her new song, “Hot ‘N’ Cold.”

    1. Girls Aloud – The Promise
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    2. Pink – So What
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    P!nk - So What - Single - So What Download Pink’s “So What?”

    3.     Guru Josh Project – Infinity 2008
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    4. Kings of Leon – Sex on Fire
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    Kings of Leon - Sex On Fire - Single - Sex On Fire Download Kings of Leon’s “Sex on Fire”

    5. Razorlight – Wire To Wire
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    6. The Saturdays – Up
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    7. Katy Perry – Hot ‘N’ Cold
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    8. Kanye West – Love Lockdown
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    9. Sash ft. Stunt – Raindrops (Encore Une Fois)
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    10. Geraldine McQueen – The Winners Song
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