Quote Originally Posted by jackal2 View Post
I'm surprised the subject of the whole media circus around Russell Brand hasn't come up on this thread (before now).

Frankly I can't stand the bloke and I wouldn't be surprised if there's something in the allegations, but as of this moment that's all they are. He's not been arrested, interviewed, charged or convicted and yet we've got a full-on trial by media and Parliamentary Committee chairs writing letters to social media platforms asking them to defund him. What happened to due process and innocent until proven guilty?

We saw a similar furore recently around Huw Edwards and Philip Schofield, neither of whom have faced any Police action to date (to my knowledge) and yet their careers have been severely damaged if not finished. I'm indifferent to both of them, but there's something deeply sinister about the media's apparent capacity to destroy anybody they choose. Some call it 'cancel culture', but to be honest I think that phrase somewhat trivialises a growing and incredibly dangerous phenomenon that could ultimately threaten anyone, whether they've actually done something wrong or not.
Agreed. Like you, he's certainly not one of my favourite people, but that's by the by. If the bloke has been accused of "crimes" then let the police investigate and then decide if it should go to trial. If it actually gets to the courts, is it even possible for him to get a fair trial after all the media coverage?