approximate reading time: minutes
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=htzSL4ePs_A
The BBC television debut in the UK of Jerry Springer: The Opera attracting nearly two million of viewers, caused an uproar, and a clearly orchestrated, record number of complaints.
The opera, starring David Soul (yes, that David Soul) as Springer, has been a huge hit in the West End.
The BBC2 broadcast logged 45,000 complaints and BBC2 controller Roly Keating, his wife and their three young children left their house after a Christian group posted his address and telephone number on its website and police concluded that the death threats recieved to be 'credible'.
I didn't see the show, but some estimates suggest David Soul's appearance alone to be responsible for 43,000 complaints.
The remainder concern the swearing 117 variants on the f words. Fuck, fucking, fahk - Umbrage also at a scene in which Jesus appears in a sequined nappy and sings "It ain't easy being me" and engages the devil in a swearing match.
Christian protesters burnt their $225 annual television licences outside the BBC's London offices.
And Jerry Springer? Well he has acknowledged in the past that his only problem with the opera is that he didn't think of it himself.