Comedian Rosie Jones faces backlash over title of Channel 4 documentary
Rosie Jones has defended the decision to use an ableist slur in the title of her upcoming Channel 4 documentary.
The comedian leads a project titled Rosie Jones: Am I A R*****?, which sets out to explore the online abuse disabled people face across social media platforms.
Prior to the show’s announcement, multiple contributors to the documentary – including influencers Shelby Lynch, Kate Stanforth and Lucy Dawson – have withdrawn their consent from the project after going “backwards and forwards” with the network over the title.
In a post on Instagram, Lynch wrote: “As some of you may know we were asked to take part in a documentary about Ableism and Online Trolling with a well known disabled comedian. Talking about ableism on mainstream TV [is] obviously something that needs to be discussed but the way it’s happened isn’t something that I can support and all three of us spoke out against them.
“We were told a few months ago that the documentary was going to include a slur that is used against disabled people and I was heartbroken. I didn’t want anything to do with the documentary unless the name was changed and we went backwards and forwards for what feels like forever.”
Lynch said she “cried so many tears” over the situation, adding: “Ultimately it was decided that the three of us would be removed from the documentary instead of the name being changed. I really hope you understand that we did all we could to change the title but unfortunately we weren’t listened to.”
Stanforth, a ballerina and influencer, echoed that a “number of issues” were raised throughout the process, writing: “This includes a lengthy discussion on why we think the title will be damaging to the disabled community and major pressure to change this.
“Regardless, I still hope the documentary highlights the abuse disabled people get on a daily basis and thank the disabled community who were involved in this for all rallying together on this one for putting as much pressure on the team as possible so we could try get the correct result, even if that meant scrapping our hard work. We got you.”
In response to the controversy, Jones posted a video on Friday (June 30) to explain the decision behind sticking with the title.
“I get it, a lot of people will find this word very shocking and upsetting,” Jones said. “But in my opinion, society doesn’t take this word and other ableist forms of language as seriously as any other form of abuse from any other minorities.”
“So I said to Channel 4: ‘Let’s do it, let’s tackle the problem head on and use that word in the title and then, hopefully, people will think twice about using the word and other ableist slurs ever again.”
In response to the video, Stanforth wrote: “Obviously, a lot of us are really disappointed on the title. It’s such a shame the disabled community weren’t listened to on this one. But, I hope this brings awareness to how awful disabled hate crime is and that this encourages change to happen in many forms.”
Rosie Jones: Am I A R*****? is expected to air on Channel 4 later this year.
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Adam Starkey
NME
