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Airbrushing people out of history

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    Airbrushing people out of history

    Watching "Top of the Pops 1981" on BBC2, it's obvious that they can only now show the clips featuring Peter Powell, or Kid Jensen, as any footage of anyone like Jimmy Savile and apparently even DLT or Tony Blackburn (who I remember were effectively the three mainstay prestenters from that era) is right out.

    I understand, obviously, why, but is it really proportional? I mean the SHOW, itself, TOTP, wasn't to blame for the crimes of its presenter. And there must be some acts from that era who only appeared on shows fronted by him. It hardly seems fair on them, too, to be airbrushed out of history by that association.

    If Adam Johnson had scored a hat-trick that won England the last World Cup, would we now never be allowed to show that footage again?

    Can they not show the bloke and caption him, now with a reminder that he was convicted of what he did, but let people enjoy the original show/footage?

    #2
    Airbrushing people out of history

    There is no problem to my mind of getting rid of all the presenters. Top of the Pops 1981 is about songs that were Top of the Pops in 1981.

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      #3
      Airbrushing people out of history

      It likely comes down to 'what's the cost if they show it vs the loss if they don't'? It just wouldn't be worth the grief.

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        #4
        Airbrushing people out of history

        Who are you?

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          #5
          Airbrushing people out of history

          Gary Glitter feat. Ian Watkins.

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            #6
            Airbrushing people out of history

            Well, they've shown that they're prepared to edit the show for various reasons, including using Legs & Co performances for Suicide Is Painless and You're The One That I want instead of the "videos" for the songs, which were clips from the TV show/film, because they no longer have the rights, and they edited out Roger Daltrey's "watch your backs" comment about the Village People out, so you would have thought there would be scope to edit DLT and Saville out , especially as they show an edited version every week! But then you look at some of the people they have featured whose crimes were as bad as DLTs (Jimmy Pursey) or worse (Gary Glitter, Jonathan King), and you wonder what the policy actually is.

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              #7
              Airbrushing people out of history

              I love watching them, but given the grief they get either way I wouldn't blame them for binning it off.

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                #8
                Airbrushing people out of history

                Has it not occurred to them to just edit the five or ten seconds of sex-offender presenters out, and then play the remainder of the clips?

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                  #9
                  Airbrushing people out of history

                  David Agnew wrote: you look at some of the people they have featured whose crimes were as bad as DLTs (Jimmy Pursey) or worse (Gary Glitter, Jonathan King), and you wonder what the policy actually is.
                  I suppose it's about culpability. The BBC put those presenters on the screen and can't shirk that responsiblity, it was the general public who bought the records which made Glitter, King et al legitimate invites.

                  As for editing, maybe once it's gets to more than one or two segments to excise they decide it is not worth the effort. A presenter is going to be on repeatedly, so lots of cutting will be needed. And finding a suitable alternative to keep the continuity of the old show.

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                    #10
                    Airbrushing people out of history

                    WOM wrote: It likely comes down to 'what's the cost if they show it vs the loss if they don't'? It just wouldn't be worth the grief.
                    They got it in the neck when one brief glimpse slipped through. So this is probably right.

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                      #11
                      Airbrushing people out of history

                      Janik wrote: As for editing, maybe once it's gets to more than one or two segments to excise they decide it is not worth the effort. A presenter is going to be on repeatedly, so lots of cutting will be needed. And finding a suitable alternative to keep the continuity of the old show.
                      I totally recognise that. But we're living in a time where technology is unrecognisable from the 1970s and 1980s, when these shows aired. It seems amazingly self-defeating to throw what are huge, and hugely important, chunks of British popular culture in the bin for ever, just because objectionable individuals (or, in some cases, potentially objectionable individuals) happen to feature at the beginning of these clips. Surely no one would object if certain people were excised at the beginning and the remainder of the footage was aired.

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                        #12
                        Airbrushing people out of history

                        Exactly. This is popular music - a defining part of British culture over the past fifty-plus years. It is so 'worth the effort' of re-editing as to be untrue.

                        Just because certain characters besmirched mainly their own names shouldn't mean that genuine talent should suffer, or that several classic one-off performances should remain hidden.

                        Why isn't this on the TOTP thread?

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                          #13
                          Airbrushing people out of history

                          Why isn't this on the TOTP thread?
                          I think Rogin is interested in the concept rather than the specifics, hence the reference to Adam Johnson.

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                            #14
                            Airbrushing people out of history

                            David Agnew wrote: Roger Daltrey's "watch your backs" comment about the Village People
                            I'd never heard of this, and felt compelled to watch it on Youtube. Blimey.

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                              #15
                              Airbrushing people out of history

                              But Adam Johnson is a strawman. If you want musical nostalgia, you get it. If you want old episodes of TOTP... it clearly isn't. It is advertising itself as a digest. The digest happens to have decided to edit out regrettable, horrible presenters.

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                                #16
                                Airbrushing people out of history

                                george clarts wrote:
                                Originally posted by David Agnew
                                Roger Daltrey's "watch your backs" comment about the Village People
                                I'd never heard of this, and felt compelled to watch it on Youtube. Blimey.
                                It was 1980, ie, still the seventies to those who came of age in the sixties. People said sh*t like that, I'm afraid.

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                                  #17
                                  Airbrushing people out of history

                                  Jah Womble wrote:
                                  Originally posted by george clarts
                                  Originally posted by David Agnew
                                  Roger Daltrey's "watch your backs" comment about the Village People
                                  I'd never heard of this, and felt compelled to watch it on Youtube. Blimey.
                                  It was 1980, ie, still the seventies to those who came of age in the sixties. People said sh*t like that, I'm afraid.
                                  1980 was the seventies

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                                    #18
                                    Airbrushing people out of history

                                    If they edited them out, they'd still have to pay them, and get pilloried for so doing.

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