How can we as a society ever move with the times and become accepting and understanding of children and adults with autism, mental health problems and other neurological disorders, if a national television show hightlights and pokes fun at an obviously vunerable woman?
The show in question is the X Factor (UK).
A woman appeared on last Saturday nights audtion show and has auditioned previously in 2005, 2006, and 2008.
She does not have a good singing voice. It is in fact very awful.
The show dedicated nearly 8 minutes to her. It showed her giving a bunch of flowers to Louis, one of the judges.
She was mocked by Gary Barlow for her prounounciation of 'Les Miserables', laughed at by all four judges and used by producers to gain cheap laughs.
It has now come to light that there have been scenes edited from the show which have Gary Barlow going up onto the stage after her audition and rifling through her handbag. He pulls out her passport and mocks that she won't be needing that. The audience booed that - probably why it was edited out.
It is reported that she was approached by the production team to come back and audition.
Why would they do that? We all know she can not sing or hold a note.
Cheap laughs.
Laughing and mocking a woman that clearly has mental health issues.
Of course Simon Cowell's lawyers and press team will move to bury this story as much as possible and there will probably be some 'shock' for the X Factor in the coming weeks that Fleet Street take up and run with whilst forgetting the appaling treatment of a vulnerable human being.
The production team claim the lady in question was happy to go ahead with the audition.
Coercing her I expect.
They did pay for her expenses to travel there and put her up in a nice hotel after approaching her.
They don't do that for all the other auditionees.
Mental health is not to be mocked at. Not to be sneered at. And not to be used for cheap entertainment.
