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BBC Apologises for 'Queen Death Joke'
NDTV ^ | 5/18/2010

Posted on 05/18/2010 2:45:14 PM PDT by nickcarraway

A BBC radio jockey stirred a sensation over the airwaves in the UK by jokingly announcing that Queen Elizabeth II had died and then switched on the national anthem 'God save the Queen', forcing the organisation to tender an "unreserved apology".

Disc jockey Danny Kelly, 39, played the national anthem and told listeners that he had an important announcement to make and then said "Queen Elizabeth II has now died."

The announcement was made on Tuesday over BBC WM, local radio service beamed to British city of Birmingham and West Midlands.

A BBC spokesman later confirmed that "Danny Kelly had made an inappropriate remark about the Queen in his radio show."

BBC said the remarks although part of a light hearted piece was corrected on air immediately.

"The comment was entirely inappropriate and the BBC apologises unreservedly for it. There was no intention to offend," the spokesman said.

BBC said that it took the gaffe "very seriously" and action would be taken. BBC WM website describes Kelly as having "a unique brand of humour".

A BBC spokesman said the joke had been a reference to an item on one of Kelly's internet pages.

"Although made as part of a light-hearted piece about social media friends, and corrected on-air immediately after it was made, the comment was entirely inappropriate and the BBC apologises unreservedly for it," he said, adding there was no intention to offend.

"BBC WM takes this comment very seriously. Action is being taken," the spokesman added.


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Extended News; Foreign Affairs; United Kingdom
KEYWORDS: bbc; bbcbias; fakebutaccurate; germanwomen; lyingliar; media; pravdamedia; waronerror
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To: Ole Okie

Are you German, too?


21 posted on 05/18/2010 3:22:06 PM PDT by nickcarraway
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To: PGR88

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BBC

Royal Charter
The BBC has operated since its creation in 1927 under a Royal Charter as a public corporation. The Charter decreed that the BBC’s views be entirely independent of any private or governmental influence. It is thereby required to be free from both political and commercial influence and answer only to its viewers and listeners.

The current Charter[22] came into effect on 1 January 2007 and runs until 31 December 2016. The Royal Charter is reviewed every 10 years.

The 2007 Charter specifies that the mission of the Corporation is to “inform, educate and entertain”. It states that the Corporation exists to serve the public interest and to promote its public purposes:

Sustaining citizenship and civil society;
Promoting education and learning;
Stimulating creativity and cultural excellence;
Representing the UK, its nations, regions and communities;
Bringing the UK to the world and the world to the UK;
Helping to deliver to the public the benefit of emerging communications technologies and services, and taking a leading role in the switchover to digital television.
______________________________________________________
Thankfully there is competition.


22 posted on 05/18/2010 3:23:09 PM PDT by sodpoodle (Despair - Man's surrender. Laughter - God's redemption)
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To: Ole Okie

Bless you Ole Okie!


23 posted on 05/18/2010 3:23:27 PM PDT by TSgt (We will always be prepared, so we may always be free. - Ronald Reagan)
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To: nickcarraway
Interesting from Wiki. Does Canada or Australia even acknowledge her?

Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; born 21 April 1926) is the queen regnant of 16 independent sovereign states known as the Commonwealth realms, listed here in order of length of possession by the Crown: the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Jamaica, Barbados, the Bahamas, Grenada, Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, Tuvalu, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Belize, Antigua and Barbuda, and Saint Kitts and Nevis. She holds each crown separately and equally in a shared monarchy, as well as acting as Head of the Commonwealth, and Supreme Governor of the Church of England. As a constitutional monarch, she is politically neutral and by convention her role is largely ceremonial.
24 posted on 05/18/2010 3:25:45 PM PDT by TSgt (We will always be prepared, so we may always be free. - Ronald Reagan)
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To: nickcarraway
Are you German, too?

Ach du lieber, nein, nein!

More English-Scotch-Irish.

25 posted on 05/18/2010 3:31:35 PM PDT by Ole Okie
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To: TSgt
Does Canada or Australia even acknowledge her?

Yes.


26 posted on 05/18/2010 4:02:20 PM PDT by GreenLanternCorps ("Barack Obama" is Swahili for "Jimmy Carter".)
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To: nickcarraway

“God Save the Queen....We Mean it, Man!”


27 posted on 05/18/2010 4:02:58 PM PDT by dfwgator
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To: GreenLanternCorps

Interesting...thanks!


28 posted on 05/18/2010 4:05:20 PM PDT by TSgt (We will always be prepared, so we may always be free. - Ronald Reagan)
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To: MIchaelTArchangel
He is lucky he isn’t living 500 years ago or he might find himself being drawn and quarters!

In the USA today, a remark like that about Der President gets you a visit from men with guns.

29 posted on 05/18/2010 4:24:06 PM PDT by Oztrich Boy (May 15: It's Jessica Watson Day!)
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To: kaehurowing
Throw him in the Tower.

"Make him part of the tour!"

30 posted on 05/18/2010 4:33:40 PM PDT by Charles Martel ("Endeavor to persevere...")
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To: TSgt
Interesting from Wiki. Does Canada or Australia even acknowledge her?

Certainly we do in Australia. In 1999, there was a referendum to decide whether or not Australia would abandon the Monarchy and become a Republic. It failed in every single state.

There is a reasonably large movement that would like Australia to become a republic, but even most of them greatly respect the current Queen.

Most Australian conservatives (though certainly not all) are Monarchists - I most certainly am.

But it is important to understand that she is the Queen of Australia - not the Queen of England or Great Britain - when she is acting as our Monarch. It's the same person, of course, but legally it's different and the distinction is important. Under the Statute of Westminster 1931 (ratified in Australia in 1941), Australia is a fully equal member of the Commonwealth of Nations with absolutely equal status to Britain (Canada and New Zealand also have this status - Ireland and South Africa had it until they chose to become republics). Australians have as much say over the future of the Monarchy as Britons do, under the law, and that is why it is accepted. Prior to 1941, Britain still handled our foreign affairs, and that would no longer be acceptable.

She is, as far as we are concerned, Her Majesty Elizabeth the Second, by the Grace of God Queen of Australia and Her other Realms and Territories, Head of the Commonwealth.

The Monarchy is still important here - when we had our awful bushfires last year (the worst natural disaster in Australia's history in terms of lives lost), HRH Princess Anne, the Princess Royal, was immediately dispatched to represent the Queen and the Royal Family at Australian memorials. Among his many titles, Prince Charles is a Knight of the Order of Australia, Prince Phillip holds the rank of Field Marshall of the Australian Army and Admiral of the Fleet of the Royal Australian Navy.

The last time the Queen visited Australia was 2006, to open the Commonwealth Games in Melbourne. There was considerable controversy when it was discovered that organisers had omitted 'God Save The Queen' from the opening ceremony. They were forced to reverse that decision in the face of public outcry and I was there in the crowd during the ceremony. Everybody in that stadium of 100,000 people came to their feet as it began.

Oh, yes, we acknowledge her. She is our Queen.

31 posted on 05/18/2010 5:53:24 PM PDT by naturalman1975 ("America was under attack. Australia was immediately there to help." - John Winston Howard)
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To: PGR88
state-run media like the BBC

...except that the BBC is most emphatically not 'state-run'.

32 posted on 05/19/2010 1:04:46 AM PDT by Winniesboy
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