BBC chiefs targeted in Springer show protest
Sun Jan 9, 2005 03:48 AM GMT
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Members of Christian organisations burn TV licences outside BBC Television Centre in London on January 7. They were protesting against the BBC's decision to broadcast the stage musical "Jerry Springer - The Opera", which contains thousands of swear words. REUTERS/Stephen Hird
By Tim Castle
LONDON (Reuters) - The BBC has called in police to investigate a torrent of abusive calls made to the homes of its senior executives before its broadcast of a profanity-laden opera, a BBC spokesman says.
The BBC also forced the closure of a Web site revealing the private telephone numbers of two senior managers and its governors after its decision to transmit the award-winning London show "Jerry Springer -- The Opera".
"BBC staff and their families have received a significant number of abusive and threatening telephone calls, some of which have been reported to the police as criminal matters," the spokesman said on Saturday.
Christian protestors had demonstrated peacefully outside the BBC's London offices before and during the broadcast on Saturday night, condemning the show's profane language and portrayal of Jesus as a fat man wearing a diaper.
But the campaign of abusive phone calls, many answered in daytime by the executives' young children, had taken the protest to an unacceptable level, a BBC source told Reuters.
"These staff have been harassed and bullied way beyond what is acceptable in a free and democratic society," the source said.
"A very small number of people -- but it is more than two or three -- are trying to impose their will by threats and by harassment," the source added.
The BBC has now installed special interceptors to divert incoming calls made to the homes of the executives named on the Web site.
The dispute comes less than a month after hundreds of angry Sikh protesters stormed a theatre in Birmingham and forced it to scrap a play depicting sexual abuse in a Sikh temple.
U.S. actor David Soul, who stars in the show, went on air to defend the BBC's decision, which prompted over 40,000 complaints from the public even before it was shown.
During the broadcast of the show, which includes Jesus engaging the Devil in a swearing match, the BBC inserted several warnings that scenes could cause religious offence.
The musical, written by British composer Richard Thomas and comedian Stewart Lee, is based on Springer's brash American talk show whose lurid topics ranged from "Honey I'm a Call Girl" to "Bring on the Bisexuals".
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