This was a prerecorded programme and the BBC chose to air it. "Gross and nasty" or not, this was viewed as mainstream entertainment by the BBC's bosses fifteen

This was a prerecorded programme and the BBC chose to air it. "Gross and nasty" or not, this was viewed as mainstream entertainment by the BBC's bosses fifteen years ago. Marina Hyde has a good piece in today's Guardian about this particular programme and how things have changed: https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/sep/19/brave-victims-russell-brand-misogyny-deserve-full-support https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/sep/19/brave-... I remember this episode, and I remember other stuff Brand did in the early noughties. Personally, I always thought Brand was a git. But if people claim Brand did or said stuff he didn't do or say, I think it ought to be pointed out. And if you can't see the implications of someone being deplatformed in this way ostensibly because of something they allegedly did fifteen or twenty years ago then I cannot help you. The trouble with fighting for human freedom is that one spends most of one's time defending scoundrels. For it is against scoundrels that oppressive laws are first aimed, and oppression must be stopped at the beginning if it is to be stopped at all. —H. L. Mencken Google is not strictly speaking a lawmaker, but they have comparable impact.