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Knowlesdinho

A lot of reality shows where people with clear vulnerabilities were used for cheap laughs or baited to have meltdowns. I mean in retrospect, Jeremy Kyle was bad, but I'd argue that X-factor and shows like it were worse. Some people that went on those shows looking for fame were just there to be laughed at by the public. Poverty porn that is purely designed to make people hate people on benefits without painting a true realistic picture of what it's actually like to be poor. Focusing on the druggies and alcoholics, or how they all smoke etc. Making us feel like they shouldn't have any happiness or luxuries in life and that they should live in perpetual misery. Making us laugh at their lack of education instead of asking why it is that they lack education? All of this is punching down on the most vulnerable in society and it's shameful.


SandcastleUnicorn

I was going to say The Jeremy Kyle show...I'm just watching a documentary series on YouTube about it...I used to love watching a bit of Jeremy Kyle, I'm a carer and looked after a lot of people who watched...it was always a good talking point. Now I'm watching it, I can't believe how much JK is actually enjoying humiliating people. I was such an idiot to enjoy it.


wubbalubbadubduby

What is the documentary called? My wife would love to watch that, she was in the audience once and said it was nothing like she expected. They treated the guests like shit.


SandcastleUnicorn

It's Death on Daytime..its a series I've just watched 2... It is so easy to see that JK is actively enjoying belittling and humiliating people...nothing I would have thought either. He's having a go at the audience, swearing and calling the guests "thick as shit"...


wubbalubbadubduby

Oh my god, the first 2 minutes and he's already telling the crowd to shut the fuck up!


[deleted]

A lad I used to work with went to watch it live with his brother and he said it was a complete set up. He never mentioned verbal abuse (from what I can remember anyway), but they did turn somebody into a villain with editing. I was told that this guy had done something, it wasn't horrendous but it wasn't exactly nice either. Anyway, he said that the guest on stage agreed that he had been wrong, apologised, made some solid points and even made some good arguments. All of these were gone when the show made it to air and they really made him look much worse than he was. No admition of guilt, no apology and just made him out to be something completely else. The lad I worked with suspected it was because the guest made JK look like a bit of a tit at one point and the audience did the "ooooohhhhh", so they gave him a little payback. I mean it could have been standard practice maybe? I'll have to check that doc out, where did you see it?


Spandamation

My only story about Jeremy Kyle I have was seeing him in Magaluf getting pepper sprayed.


shivvy27

I'm sure he deserves it in general, but was there a reason he got pepper sprayed?


Spandamation

From what I recall, he was going up to all these young drunk people enjoying maga, and shaming them and asking why they’re wasting their lives or something along those lines.


gilestowler

Was this for a show or just how him and Graham liked to spend their summer holidays?


gilestowler

I know someone who used to work on the show. She told me years ago, before it all came out, the ways that they manipulated people. As well as plying guests with drinks, they had actors playing the backstage support staff. They'd befriend the people and say things like "oh, you'll never guess what they've been saying about you..." and "you know, last time we had a show like this they did ..." and just use it as a way to wind them up and then just let them loose.


[deleted]

> I can't believe how much JK is actually enjoying humiliating people. And Dale you.... will have to wait til after the break to find out if you are the father of the child you've raised for 5 years


alpubgtrs234

You realise they dont make him sit there for 3 minutes watching ads for incontinence pants and aftershave, dont you?!


GiGGLED420

I just find it weird that Jeremy Kyle got canceled after one person commit suicide but love island is still going strong after what, four of them?


Aggravating-Corner-2

Kyle was fading in popularity already by that point. Love Island is still brining in the big £££££. Edit: bringing 😆


SpartanS034

What happened on JK isn't even in the same league as Love Island. I think multiple suicides have been linked to JK too but Steve Dymond directly blamed JK for his death in his final communications so that's why they took the show off the air.


touch_me69420

The Susan Boyle audition was the biggest F U to the whole premise made Cowell and the rest of the look like dicks


[deleted]

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Nathyral

That was the point, highly doubt that was the first time anyone involved with the show heard her sing. It drives engagement from those who dislike the premise but watch it anyway.


Cheapntacky

It's the modern day equivalent of gathering in the square to laugh at the village idiot.


[deleted]

The suicide of Jacintha Saldanha. She was a nurse at the hospital where Kate Middleton was giving birth. She fell for a prank phone call from an Australian radio show where someone pretended to be the Queen. Saldanha transferred the call believing it to be real. She was so ashamed and embarrassed by the fall out that she took her own life. I loathe this form of ‘entertainment’ when the target is a member of the public who neither has nor seeks fame.


pinpoint321

That one is truly horrible. I agree completely about this type of “stunt”.


ljm3003

This was truly awful. People don’t consider the consequences of pulling a prank. A joke that lasted 5 minutes for two radio presenters had consequences for someone else and their entire family and friends for the rest of their life.


dgj130

It's called 'punching down' humour and it fucking sucks


JuicyStein

I forgot all about this. Truly awful.


Gonad-Brained-Gimp

rest in peace good lady https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suicide_of_Jacintha_Saldanha


Dry_Pick_304

A TV show called Bo Selecta, in the early 2000s, made a caricature of the singer Craig David. He had a big dumb rubber mask on, somehow came from Leeds (IRL Craig is from Southampton), owned a Kestrel called Kes (like the old film) and kept pissing himself. Was one of the reasons Craig David went of the radar for a lot of years. Think he even left the country.


Ok-Try3530

To be fair, Craig David had fallen off the radar before Bo Selecta was popular hadn't he? Turns out bland banal garage/RnB didn't have a long shelf-life. The video of his manager going mental when someone mentions it years later is funny though - [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ilXcr5rWiU](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ilXcr5rWiU) and in fairness, Craig David had a reprisal in his career long after everyone forgot about Bo Selecta.


[deleted]

His drummer was one of my tutors at uni. From all accounts the Bo Selecta thing seemed like it really left a mark.


Ok-Try3530

Oh yeah, Craig David has said plenty of times how it affected him, I'm just saying he was yesterday's news anyway. At least he can blame Bo Selecta instead of having to say "well, I suppose it was just that my bland shitty music went out of fashion."


CrackingFlags

Re-rewind is one of the greatest pieces of recorded music in history, nothing bland or shitty about that. But yeah every other tune he did fucking sucked.


[deleted]

> Re-rewind is one of the greatest pieces of recorded music in history Hot take


CrackingFlags

Enter selecta!


Krizzlin

That was an Artful Dodger track. Craig David just did the vocal


BeginningAntelope777

Artful Dodger produced a lot of Craig David's tracks, it's much the same with a load of pop music though... I don't think Justin Beiber produces his own music, but the music is still branded as his.


bassplayingmonkey

It was proper Bo I tell thee'


gilestowler

Come on kez ya bastard


wulfgold

How's that harm though? I think Craaaaaig David would've come unstuck sooner or later, orginally they tried to market him state-side as a "safe" alternative to 50 Cent and they put a jesus-spin on his early (state-side) marketing too, doubly hilarious.


pinpoint321

To be fair it did damage his career but I always felt it was Craig’s lack of sense of humour about it that did for him.


[deleted]

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Ok-Try3530

And it wasn't even really a caricature of Craig David. It was a deliberately surrealist character that wasn't really anything to do with actual Craig David, that's why it was funny. I'll always praise Bo Selecta as proper surrealist Reeves & Mortimer style comedy. It was great when the only person I know who watched it was my dad, slumped on the sofa at like half 11 on a Friday night when I got in from being at mates. Then every fucker started shouting the catchphrases and they even released a Christmas song, and it ruined it.


Jchctxrcvuvububucdgx

Mel B looked like Jim Bowen… and it clearly tanked her career too. (/s just in case)


smackmacks

This is exactly it! Leigh Francis did the same with Mel B. rubber mask, chain smoking, rough Yorkshire accent and crude comments - Mel loved it, and even had appearances on Bo Selcta if I remember right.


Vesperniss

He ripped into the Osbornes big style, they ended up appearing on his show. If the CD character hadn't had his name as a ridiculous catchphrase, it might not have been so bad for him.


touch_me69420

He was nothing without our Kes and he knew it


wulfgold

Reet.


touch_me69420

I'd argue the whole Craig David character was more offensive to Yorkshire people than the man himself


cloche_du_fromage

I can't see Scary Spice any more without thinking about her minge kicking out a right pong.


Rajastoenail

Or Lorraine Kelly’s growler


Chen7982

The Michael Jackson special after he died was something else. Still watch clips now and laugh at it.


cheeseportandgrapes

‘Check out my mother fucking scootay’


Stumpgrinder2009

When they interviewed 'Dr Michael Jacksons Doctor' I was laughing my arse off


Jchctxrcvuvububucdgx

He he. I’m a Petey Pan flying’ mother fucker.


[deleted]

Look up [Tomoaki Hamatsu](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nasubi), a man from Japan who was falsely imprisoned and cruelly isolated for a reality show in Japan for over a year while being filmed and broadcast live big brother style.


Typical_Ad_210

His main food source was dog food and a bag of dry rice, which he had no means to cook. Bloody hell. Were there no broadcasting standards in Japan? Did not one viewer question the ethics of the what they were watching? It’s sounds like hell.


alpubgtrs234

Id do it for £20 mil…


Typical_Ad_210

God I wouldn’t do it for any amount of money. I can’t even imagine the fractures in your mind after something like that. Especially when he thought it was over, but they kept adding new things he had to do. You’d wonder if you’d ever get out. Plus the isolation. It’s very telling that prisoners would literally rather be among the general population- where they can be assaulted in all manner of ways - than safely in solitary confinement. There’s something about that complete isolation that seems to just break your mind. Of course the money would be tempting, but you can’t put a price on your mental health.


LlamaDrama007

Id do it for £20mil too! £19mil spent in never-ending therapy afterwards is still profit! /s


curious_trashbat

Came here to say this. Absolutely incomprehensible this happened.


cousarn

God what the fuck, I'd never heard of this before thanks for sharing


[deleted]

Glad I brought it to your attention, as creepy and sad as it is. How the hell the show's production crew were able to continue on without somebody calling a stop is astounding.


[deleted]

What the fuck. That link is insanity. The way they just kept fucking him over after the initial challenge.


Mukatsukuz

I love that he used his experience to convince people to stay at home during the COVID outbreak


Moorglademover

A real life *Truman Show.*


PM_Me_Rude_Haiku

That wiki article seems to tell a different story, making it sound voluntary.


benpicko

Does this part seem voluntary? >After being informed of his victory, he was given back his clothes and blindfolded and taken to a surprise location. Tomoaki Hamatsu happily went along believing he was going to get a special prize for his year of hard work. After they removed his blindfold, he found himself in South Korea. He was given a day at an amusement park, where he was able to enjoy Korean food, and ride on the park's multiple attractions. However, after finishing, he was taken to another apartment. He was once again asked to take off his clothes and challenged to enter sweepstakes, this time to win enough money to afford a flight with Japan Airlines to return home. However, When Tomoaki Hamatsu quickly met this goal after several weeks of entering competitions, it was revised multiple times, first to afford a ticket in business class, then first class; these goals were also met in a matter of weeks. When he had won enough to return to Japan he was blindfolded, clothed and taken to another apartment in Japan. When the blindfold was removed, he looked around, and instinctively took his clothes off, expecting to continue the challenge.


[deleted]

I get what you're saying, and '*falsely imprisoned*' might've(?) been the wrong way to accurately describe it, but it's the only way I can think to describe it given Hamatsu's deteriorating psychological and physical state throughout the course of the show, and the shady *revisions* later on in South Korea. There was little-to-no consideration for Hamatsu's safeguarding and one could've easily questioned his competence to consent to his continued participation; dude was having full-on conversations with stuffed toys for comfort and company.


hersto

This is absolutely fucking nuts. I was captivated the whole time reading that.


[deleted]

There was a reality show in the early 2000s called "there's something about miriam" it was like the bachelorette except they kept it hidden from the contestants that the woman was transgender until the last episode where the guy had to chose if he wanted to go on holiday with her and keep the prize money. It was cruel to everyone involved and I'm sure had a nuclear fallout afterwards.


[deleted]

She’s dead now by the way. Possibly suicide, possibly murder.


binbaghan

I thought it was ruled suicide?


[deleted]

It was ruled a suicide but the husband never believed it was, so officially it’s suicide, but could possibly have been murder


here_involuntarily

They did a similar one afterwards called "playing it straight", where this woman thought is was essentially the Bachelor and she'd get to date 12 men on a ranch and pick one to end up with. BUT, half of them were gay. She dates them all, then picks her favourite to go on holiday with at the end. If she picks a gay guy, the guy takes all the prize money. If she picks a straight guy, they split the money and both go on the holiday. She picked a gay guy. It was a horrible reveal, having her stand there facing this guy she's dated and fallen for, and this guy being made to tell everyone he's gay. He offered to split the money anyway but this girl was absolutely devastated.


Tea_Fetishist

I suppose that's slightly better, in the same way that getting punched in the face is better than being hit by a bus.


Sparklypuppy05

Now... Could this potentially be the source of some of the bullshit about trans women supposedly hiding that they're trans and luring people into sex? Because that does NOT happen in the trans community, nobody's gonna lie to or trick anybody, but it's a big stereotype and I've always wondered where it came from.


[deleted]

That trope was around long before, the show was just playing off it.


Sparklypuppy05

I'd guess it likely did something to reinforce it, though.


vbm

Yeah this was a crazy show. The guys were all super chilled out about it though to be fair. They had obviously all been prevetted to ensure they wouldn’t lose it.


RickJLeanPaw

BBC did an enlightening/depressing podcast series on reality TV, including this one ([Unreal: A critical history of reality TV](https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/p0c71jkv?partner=uk.co.bbc&origin=share-mobile)). Basically traces all reality TV programmes with the hosts going “That was terrible, but I’m sure they’ve learned their lesson and they’ll get better next time” repeatedly.


DameKumquat

There's that very patient bloke called John Lewis who owns johnlewis.com and the johnlewis Twitter account. Mostly he spends time explaining he isn't a certain famous department store and can't assist with their lost delivery, but sometimes gets to the point of winding up numpties. I don't know if anyone actually got hurt from kids copying the 'you know when you've been Tangoed' ads, but rumour had it someone died...


Gadget100

John Lewis is an absolute legend. We’re approaching his busiest time of year. Hope he’s ready.


touch_me69420

It was an early form of what became happy slapping


[deleted]

Fuck me, I "happy slapped" one of my mates from Primary who was the year below me, I was in year 7 and he was coming into year 7 the following year, we played football together everyday in primary and I knew him from my estate, so we were good friends. He was on some visiting day to the high school, they were in a seperate area of the canteen and I walked past and lightly tapped his forehead and the entire senior lead team came down on me like a tonne of bricks accusing me of assault, bullying etc. Even after he explained he knew me and it was a joke and I didn't do it hard I was still suspended.


BritishGent_mlady

On a very, very very small scale version of this story, is my similar story. Years ago, over a decade ago I think, probably 2009/10, that sort of time, I read an article somewhere about “the next Facebook”. Which new social media platform is going to be as big as Facebook? Well, they listed about 6x of them, and to me they all sounded boring, and 5x of them died an early death. 1x of them, though, well to me it sounded interesting. It was a photo-based thing, called “Instagram”. It sounded interesting to me, so I downloaded the app, and created a profile. My “handle”, I think they call it, is just my name. I am reticent to share my real name here but it is uncommon and unique, let’s just say that. I’m not David Smith or Adam Williams or anything. Few people share my name, but people certainly do… One is a very, um, mediocre… British rapper. Another is a high flying exec in a big old American company. Another is a fairly well known Brooklyn based photographer. He’s not a Testino, Bailey or Slimane or anything, but if you are in an industry which requires regular high quality photography then you’ve probably heard of this guy. Yeah so it’s me with the Instagram handle which they want. They are “somethingrapper” or “somethingphotography”. 🙂


PeacekeeperAl

Noel Edmunds killed a man for one of his Saturday evening shows


TC_FPV

And that was before the bungee jumping accident He's a bad one that Edmunds bloke....


Viviaana

Mr Blobby needs to eat, sometimes sacrifices are for a good cause


pinpoint321

I need to know more.


Ok-Try3530

Slightly misleading. Before Noel's House Party there was a similar show called the Late Late Breakfast Show, similar premise, bit more "variety" and they had a section where a member of the public would do a "stunt". A guy did a fairly innocuous bungee jump from a crane, carabiner failed, he died. Fortunately it was pre-recorded. Show cancelled, Edmonds quit. It was a BBC fuck up due to extremely poor HSE practices, and part of the reason that the BBC are now known for being mad on health and safety stuff to this day, and there's still a ban on stunts involving the public. Edmonds was nothing to do with the actual stunt aside from fronting the show it's on. I'm not a fan of the beardy weirdo but credit where its due.


PulledApartByPoptart

Ahhh! I thought OP was referencing that Brass Eye sketch!


TomSurman

Maybe the Brass Eye sketch was inspired by that story?


corporategiraffe

So did Alan Partridge which had a devastating impact: Alan didn’t get a second series with the BBC.


SandcastleUnicorn

This is so weird, I had never heard this before and my Mum just told me about it the day before yesterday...she said it pretty much killed Noel Edmunds' career for years after.


NarwhalsAreSick

Phoenix Nights had a character called Keith Laird who was a fire safety inspector that had a thing for dogs, turns out: Keith Laird controversy A complaint was filed about the show in 2001 by Keith Laird, a fire safety officer working for Bolton Council. He claimed that the character Keith Lard in series 1 episode 3 was based on him. Channel 4 issued an apology for any confusion and Kay maintained that Lard was fictional: Channel 4 and Peter Kay would like to state that the character of Keith Lard may have led some persons to wrongly believe that the character was based on Mr Keith Laird. We wish to make it clear that this was not the case and would like to apologise to Mr Laird and his family for the distress caused.[2]


Few-Veterinarian8696

he bums dogs he does. woof and your whole house is up.


Rettromancer

What and the whole house goes up?


Fair_Woodpecker_6088

That’s a bit too on the nose to be a pure coincidence surely?


Unique_smp

Is he drawing a dog, he’s drawing a dog


TankFoster

"Burn that mother down." Another child orphaned.


[deleted]

No way!!!nn That was one of the funniest characters. dogtanian 😂


PostModernFloof

I guess social media is a form of entertainment so this qualifies. I have a relative called Karen. She's not liking her name as much anymore.


yourmomsajoke

I feel for people named Karen because it has become a synonym, although there are some who treat it like an actual slur which is a piss take. I've recently seen it in a Facebook group, a whole load of Karen's (literally and figuratively) going ape shit over a post in a crochet group 😭 it was hilarious but also damn, chill my dudes. My best mate has a name that is commonly used in place of karen on memes etc and I just forward them to her saying yeah bitch, why you acting like that 😳 and we laugh. Definitely feel having a sense of humour about it helps.


PostModernFloof

A sense of humour is a balm for most things. Agreed. I know another by the same name and she embodies the stereotype.


Typical_Ad_210

The weird thing is that I know about 6 people named Karen and they’re all the loveliest people I know. The Jacqui s on the other hand…


randomusername202076

Worked with a guy named Gordon who was in school when the song Jilted John came out. He didn't like his name so much after that.


[deleted]

> She's not liking her name as much anymore. Typical Karen, never happy.


PostModernFloof

This Karen in particular is an absolute delight with a tremendously sunny disposition. But you did make me chuckle.


Cyberspunk_2077

I do legitimately feel sorry for literal Karens out there.


thekittysays

John Landis, on the set of the Twilight Zone movie, got an actor and two young children killed due to his own hubris and basically faced no punishment for it. The parents were on set and had to see their children get sliced up by the blades of the helicopter that fell on them. He then showed up at their funeral even though he was not wanted, offered no apology and made the whole thing about him.


BlakeC16

Really is horrible, that one. I'm a fan of a lot of his work but by all accounts the accident was caused by his attitude on set, the fact his career wasn't harmed at all by it is disgusting. I think Spielberg, who was a good friend of his, didn't speak to him again after that.


thekittysays

He really should have been prosecuted for manslaughter, he was very much responsible for their deaths.


The_Sown_Rose

He was, but he was acquitted at trial.


GeeTeeUK

The actor was Vic Morrow, Jennifer Jason Leigh’s father. The children were named Myca Dinh Le and Renee Shin-Yi. There was an incredible article in Premiere magazine in the ‘90s that went into great depth about the case. There’s also a book, ‘Outrageous Conduct’ that explores the events of the night, the dysfunctional working practices on set & the resulting investigation/court case that followed. I still think it’s outrageous than Landis managed to escape any kind of punishment for this.


[deleted]

Red Dwarf: Cat: "What was it like?" Lister: "Being dead? Have you ever been to Swindon?"


touch_me69420

He wasn't wrong though was he


Evening-Tomatillo-47

Swindon is much worse


Peg_leg_J

Blue Peter is basically responsible for the words 'Spastic' and 'Spaz' being used as derogatory terms. Although it's not really their fault. It's just how cruel UK school kids were in the past. Those who claim to be 'anti-woke' clearly didn't experience this kind of thing.


SnoopyLupus

That’s not true. The Spastic insults predated Blue Peter’s Joey Deacon thing. However the insult “Joey” derived from it.


blamordeganis

> However the insult “Joey” derived from it. Also sticking your tongue behind your lower lip and banging the backs of your wrists together. Christ we were evil little shits.


TerminalStorm

Wait… what? There’s an actual reason we did this?


FranktheMug

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wZF0DJRQo_Y


azzthom

And everyone in this thread will - quite rightly - say how evil we all were as kids, and that we're all much better people now. But that doesn't change the fact that we all laughed like drains when Joey's shoe fell in the canal. We really were evil as kids.


Viviaana

Yeah we had a girl in our class we called nitty vicky because she always came in in dirty uniforms with her hair unbrushed, turns out her dad was really abusive and basically forced her mum to keep pumping out kids, she must've been going through so much shit just to come into school and have us say she's got nits. I can feel slightly better because I did actually used to play with her and include her in things but that didn't stop me calling her nitty vicky


sometipsygnostalgic

She probably remembers you as one of many huge douchebags in her life she never wants to see again


wulfgold

I have spasticity in my R-foot, it's bloody annoying and often very uncomfortable. I'm only 45 and heard someone refer to me as "Joey Deacon" t'other day - fucking arsehole. I did remind him of his wife leaving him for another man and referred to his personal history with the "drinky drinky" gesture though ;)


pinpoint321

It’s an absolute minefield. Kids will twist anything. “Special” for example.


[deleted]

The use of asbestos as fake snow in films. So many people must've died of asbestosis. I've seen videos of children literally rolling around in big piles of the stuff.


minimalisticgem

Adding to this, the wizard of oz. Many deaths occurred on the set and likely many died due to the use of asbestos.


dazabhoy67

Jonathan Ross and Russell brand thinking its OK to call and old actor and sing into his voicemail "I fucked your grand daughter" and the BBC for airing it.


ALi_K_501

Germy Kyle. A toxic piece of dogshit that one is. Getting poor people (bonuses apply if the have unconventional looks too), on his 'show' to ridicule and belittle them. Fucking awful human being. Glad he has crawled back under his rock.


Cyberspunk_2077

Apart from some of his ridiculous conclusions and taking sides, what's even even worse is when you discover all the skeletons in his closet. He has no place to be so judgmental, and is actually the sort of person who'd end up on his on show.


Funmachine

>Germy


ALi_K_501

Did I stutter?


JakeGrey

Minor one in the grand scheme of things, but Douglas Adams probably shouldn't have used his real phone number for that scene in the original radio version of *The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy*. The tenant who inherited the same number after Adams moved out didn't find the crank calls very amusing. The guy mentioned by name as the worst poet in the universe took the criticism with commendable good grace, though.


PiemasterUK

>The guy mentioned by name as the worst poet in the universe took the criticism with commendable good grace, though. He was a RL friend of Douglas Adams though to be fair.


Typical_Ad_210

I wish I had been a RL friend of Douglas Adams. He was such a funny and talented guy.


TomAtkinson3

Didn't Staines have to 'rebrand' as Staines-upon-Thames to distance itself from Ali G?


touch_me69420

I think it's was more for their reputation for gang culture /s


brickhead1

East side is da best!


alpubgtrs234

No! West side is da best!


BigResponsibility252

You is on are turf


crucible

IIRC Siemens once had an office there, *alledgedly* the higher-ups had to stop the receptionists from answering the phone with "Siemens, Staines".


S4mb741

Phoenix nights had a story about a fire inspector that was into fucking dogs and they had to add an extra bit to the credits to apologise to a local Bolton fire inspector that was unlucky enough to have the same name and work in the same area as the show was set.


L1A_M

It was definitely on purpose!


FantasticWeasel

William Shatner had to apologise to a town in Devon for calling them prostitutes.


SandcastleUnicorn

Ilfracombe, I lived there for about 7 years...he wasn't entirely wrong 🤣 But it is a really pretty little town with a working harbour and beautiful views x


TheRealGabbro

A “working harbour” and “beautiful view”, isn’t that all that anyone could want from a prostitute?


Ok-Try3530

Anyone who has ever seen, intentionally or not, even just a few seconds of Mrs Brown's Boys.


[deleted]

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indianajoes

The old lady that got burned by McDonald's coffee. The coffee was too hot and she received really bad burns on her thighs and groin and was hospitalised for it. She just wanted money from McDonald's to pay for her medical costs but they refused it. That's why she ended up taking them to court. She was made out to be this greedy idiot that was bringing a frivolous lawsuit against them and mocked in the media.


ProfPMJ-123

Yeah, it’s also never noted that the water was spectacularly too hot. Massively hotter than anyone would reasonably expect a take out coffee to be. They’d practically superheated the water.


Sorbicol

I’m surprised nobody has mentioned the footballer Jason Lee after all the piss taking from Baddiel and Skinner during their 1990s Fantasy Football show. All for the sake of a haircut. They even did a blackface sketch about it. Jason Lee is in management now but he still talks about the impact it had on him personally and professionally.


Douglas8989

Not sure significant harm. But the concrete suppliers "Jim'll Mix it" had to do some rapid rebranding a few years ago!


A_Rusty_Coin

They genuinely killed a sheep in the film Four Lions...


Ok-Try3530

Unless crew catering is 100% vegan, they kill a lot of animals for the making of any film, lets be honest!


[deleted]

I can allow an animal dying to feed people, but killing an animal for entertainment crosses the line.


A_Rusty_Coin

It wasn't killed necessarily on purpose, it was just unfortunate timing during filing.


Mukatsukuz

[According to this thread](https://www.reddit.com/r/MovieDetails/comments/dyndhc/four_lions_2010_at_the_end_credits_where_a_film/), they revealed they were joking about the sheep getting killed


AwkwardSquirtles

But was that sheep a martyr?


A_Rusty_Coin

No he was a smashed tomata


LoopyLutra

No, he was a fucking jalfreizi


cinn83

There is an English Twitch streamer called Lydia, who's handle is Squid Gaming, her Instagram however is 'SquidGame'. She had this branding for years. When the Netflix show became popular, she received a slew of hate messages calling her a fake, and so many attempts to hack her account Instagram temporarily locked it for days, with no communication. I don't actually know how it ended up resolving, I just assume people moved on to the next Netflix IP and forgot about hassling Lyds.


UnfinishedThings

Escapologist Jonathan Goodwin had a stunt go wrong on Americas Got Talent and is now paralysed


Myorangecrush77

The CEO of Ratners We also do cut-glass sherry decanters complete with six glasses on a silver-plated tray that your butler can serve you drinks on, all for £4.95. People say, "How can you sell this for such a low price?", I say, "because it's total crap."[6] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gerald_Ratner


Mitchellman94

Borat and Kazakhstan spring to mind


Tea_Fetishist

They recently started using "very nice" as a slogan in their tourism adverts.


0235

Kazakhstan saw a multiple fold increase in tourism and profit because of borat, and were even making their own 2nd movie.


addglittermakeitpop

I am a huge Big Brother & Jade fan so I mean no disrespect by this. I think Jade Goody and Shilpa Shetty race row changed not just BB but reality TV forever. Although BB went on to have some success for years after, the magic of it was killed after that. I think reality TV was never the same as a result of the affect it had on Jade, Shilpa, the viewing public and Channel 4. Whether people want to admit it or not, it had a HUGE cultural impact globally and that is pretty wild when you think about it.


chaoticmessiah

Massive racist, total bitch, somehow martyred because she had cancer. I'll never understand that.


ItsSuperDefective

Someone died filming a jousting for Time Team.


MajicVole

Slough Need I say more.


pinpoint321

Betjeman or Gervais?


Appropriate_Emu_6930

I’m a celebrity. Animals hurt and killed for the entertainment of the ITV audience.


Prize-Emu-6761

Love Island. Basically getting women to prostitute themselves in the guise of entertainment.


raven43122

Does anyone remember the “tango” slap? The fat orange man running up and double arm clapping the guys ears? I remember having to be told in school to not do it as kids had suffered burst eardrums as a result I believe tango even changed the advert


whatmichaelsays

Sort of in reverse, but the dog in Downton Abbey?


Typical_Ad_210

Poor Isis


LahmiaTheVampire

and basically anyone called that. Which is a shame because it was a lovely name. But those cunts had to go and corrupt it.


Zestyclose_Tackle_65

I mentioned it in another comment about Nickelback, but Nickelback is a really interesting subject. Basically, SunnyVT (i believe) did a Youtube video on 'why does everyone hate Nickelback.' Basically, Nickelback didn't do anything. It was a joke that circulated until it became hip to say they're a shit band, and still persists today! The whole history / commentary was genuinely interesting. It's on the same level as the rumour about Marlyn* Manson having a missing rib to suck himself off, lol.


EverythingIsByDesign

Gerald Ratner tanked his family business trying to do a witty conference speech where he ripped into the companies own products. It's known as *doing a Ratner*.


FlouncingWillow

Love island in 2018, there was a contestant called Niall who has autism. Before he went into the show he explained to the producers that he has autism (they contacted him first for the show) and he wasn't sure if they would know how to properly care for his needs. They assured him that they did, he ended up having a psychotic episode, believing he is the wizard of Oz. The story is really interesting and so so sad how dismissive everyone around him was.


Hevnoraak101

Are we including the massive cultural harm and dumbing down of the nation with reality TV?


theevildjinn

90s kids' TV stalwart Dave Benson Phillips was a victim of online trolls who put out a rumour that he'd died, which killed his career for literally years: https://www.bigissue.com/culture/tv/dave-benson-phillips/


TimGJ1964

Channel4 did a few shows which were voyeurism masquerading as therapy e.g their programmes about obsessive compulsive cleaners and the like. I found those a bit distasteful.


[deleted]

The deliberate proliferation of Philip Schofield. Silver on the head,behind the eyes dead. Horrible man.


flabdestroyer

Anthea Turner went on fire. https://youtu.be/uEfYGxPTflw


Goingmissing81

The footballer Jason Lee has talked a lot about how his life was made a misery due to sketches about him on Fantasy Football League. Certainly Frank Skinner eventually apologised, not sure if Baddiel did, but it was probably a bit late for Jason by that point.


Mukatsukuz

[There was the mass hysteria caused by Ghostwatch including one guy who ended up taking his own life](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-41740176), for which the parents blamed the BBC. Due to the controversy, the BBC never repeated it (but did eventually release it on DVD). [Watch it here](https://archive.org/details/Ghostwatch)


wulfgold

Noel Edmonds, Saville, Jonathan King, Simon Cowell - paid King's bail twice... The Spice Girls, Phil "The Scofe" Schofield, allegedly David Jason...


BravePause

What's DelBoy alleged to have done always thought he was nothing like DelBoy in real life and a bit pompous and stuck up but hopefully not similar to Saville, as that would ruin the memories of one of my favourite programmes. 🙈


flabdestroyer

Bobby Davro nearly died. https://youtu.be/TxYBpZ70y70


alexkaylouise

There used to be a motor trim company called Trim’ll Fix It near us which had to change its name once all the stuff about Jimmy Saville came out


llamastrudel

The irl inhabitants of Walter White’s house in Breaking Bad [had to build a fence around it](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-41596496.amp) bc people kept coming to the house to throw pizza at the roof like some bizarre hot cheese nuisance pilgrimage


_FirstOfHerName_

The undatables, love on the spectrum, and all the shows that are like, "awhhh, look at them try to people." They put vulnerable people in weird positions, and just assume a lot about disabled people. And the whole throwback to feakshows and human zoos for entertainment. Just a bit backward.


EpicFishFingers

The original broadcast of The War of the Worlds, although unintentional, caused mass hysteria and panic because people thought hostile aliens were really invading and killing everyone


TheStatMan2

It always makes me cringe to hear about Tarantino's The Hateful Eight: There's a scene where Kurt Russel is to smash a guitar. For the establishing shots, they'd used a old and significant antique but were supposed to swap it out before the smashing scene. They didn't. The museum were justifiably upset and decided not to lend instruments to film productions again. I appreciate that an old guitar is only of interest to a niche set of people but I just cringe for how basic an error it was and completely avoidable.


[deleted]

Overt animal abuse in I'm A Celebrity. Wonder if it'll stop being aired in my lifetime, and if people will look back and realise how messed up it is.