I don’t watch much TV and very rarely listen to radio apart from a couple of internet radio stations based in Ireland and Newfoundland. On the rare occasion that I do happen to watch commercial TV I come away from it feeling slightly irritable or guilty at having filled my head with the equivalent of the empty calories found in junk food.
The other night was one such night when I flaked out on the couch and succumbed to the mind numbing effects of Channel 7’s ‘Dancing With The Stars’. I had previously had the displeasure of watching this drivel before but this time I didn’t want to just kick the TV but actually felt like pulling Todd McKenney (one of the judges) out of the TV and throttling him.
For those who haven’t seen the show, McKenney is a loud mouthed queen who derives pleasure in putting people down. On this episode he decided to turn his bitchiness on one of the contestants who happens to be fully blind. He absolutely humiliated him in front of a live audience describing his performance as appalling and ’stilted’ and being hunched like an old man.
Todd McKenney - Bitchy fag
McKenney is no stranger to controversy after being busted wandering around a park off his head on the street drug GBH. The police pulled him in and found him in possession of more GBH. He claimed that someone had planted the drugs on him in the club (isn’t that always the case!). In typical fag ass style ala Paris Hilton he started crying like a pussy and claiming he was a ‘victim’. Pffftt!
By Monday morning this poisoned fairy was back at work on his radio station. Ratings of course went through the roof with people tuning in to see what bitchface would have to say. As usual … nothing new. All show and no go! These people have perfected their verbal diahroea to an art form.
Meanwhile another top rating radio station presenter has recently defended a stunt in which a 14 year old girl was strapped to a lie detector before revealing — live on air — that she had been raped. The radio presenter in question a fat bastard by the name of Kyle Sandilands has made a career out of shooting his fat mouth off and exploiting others.
Kyle Sandilands - Loud mouthed, fat bastard
But this was a new low even by Australian standards. The segment was broadcast on Sydney’s 2Day FM, which has more listeners aged between 10 and 17 than any other station. The teenager, who had been brought in by her mother to be asked about her drug and sex experiences, told Sandilands, I’m scared … it’s not fair.
When asked whether it was appropriate for a 14-year-old girl to be questioned about her sexual activity on air, he said: Our show is a real-life show, not some Punch and Judy pre-scripted show. We deal with a lot of real situations, and sexuality is one them. I would never have asked the girl those questions myself.
Sandilands further tried to defend himself and his show with a lame assed excuse by saying, look mate, the internal line on this — and it’s not spin — is that we’ve done this segment for years, as hundreds and hundreds of stations around the world have. We probably do better due diligence on that segment than most people … We had our checks and balances up front. We wrapped the thing up and we offered counseling.
There is no lows that these people will stoop to. If controversy and the exploitation of minors and blind people gets people watching or listening to these shows then they have no qualms about feeding it to people in ‘upsized’ serves. Just like junk food it may appear appealing on the surface but you know that what you are ingesting is pure crap and will leave you lethargic and your body screaming out for more because what you have shoved into your system is devoid of any real goodness or content.
People have no problem sitting down and watching six hours of mindless bollox on television or listening to the inane chatter of radio presenters for hours on end without questioning the effect it is having. What kind of fucked up society lambastes a blind man for trying his best while being made a complete fool out of or probing a child until she caves in and admits she was raped – all in the name of entertainment?
