Adam
02-09-2007, 07:47 PM
Reposted, because i a) like the article b) its worthy of a new mention on the new forum!
Not many people from the forums would of seen this, but Aled recently appeared in an article in Ariel, which is the BBC's in-house weekly newspaper. Thought I'd write the article up as its a nice read
Is mouth Radio 1 Presenter Chris Moyles really the homophobic monster he's been branded by the tabloids? There's one man who can say for sure, his producer Aled Haydn Jones, who is openly gay and has worked with Chris for six years. He says he's not.
'It bothers me that people think that he's homophobic,' he says wearily. 'I work so hard to make sure that the show is good. Why would I bother if he was?'
Although Aled is often the target of the Moyles show jokes, he's sure it's not because of his sexuality. The show is devised as a soap opera in which every member of the crew has an exaggerated character, and everybody takes the mikey out of everybody else: Chris for being overweight, Dave Vitty (aka Comedy Dave) for being grumpy, fellow producer Rachel Jones for her west country accent. His role is to be the Welsh one, the dippy one - and, yes, the camp one. 'I have straight friends who are camp and gay friends who aren't. It's not part of my sexuality.
In fact he'd be more upset if he was left out because of his sexuality, and believes that the last thing thing programme makers should do is treat the gay community as if there was a taboo in force. "It's the opposite we need.
Almost every gay man is looking for normality and acceptance - it's not a 'special' thing.'
He admits that at first he was nervous about admitting to being gay on air - having grown up in a small town he know that not all community attitudes to homomsexuality are as relaxed as they are in cities like London and Manchester. 'Chris just couldn't understand it,' he recalls. 'He would say to me: 'But this is part of you - why not?'
Of the 5000 texts the show gets every day a tiny percentage can be homophobic. Aled dismisses them as 'ignorant' but says it's Chris who leaps to his defence when things get unpleasant. 'Chris will be a mate and say on-air 'we don't want this kind of thing'.'
It's been suggested that if you're a teenager who's coming to terms with your sexuality, Radio 1 in the mornings is not the most reassuring place to be. This, says Aled, is rubbish. While he is nervous about the idea of being a role model ('I'm flawed, just like everyone else'), he insists that being an openly gay producer on a show with 8m listeners, and being integrated with the team, is a positive example of how sexuality need not be barrier to career progression. He wishes he'd seen more gay success stories when he was growing up. 'Julian Clary was the only gay in the media,' he remembers.
Not many people from the forums would of seen this, but Aled recently appeared in an article in Ariel, which is the BBC's in-house weekly newspaper. Thought I'd write the article up as its a nice read
Is mouth Radio 1 Presenter Chris Moyles really the homophobic monster he's been branded by the tabloids? There's one man who can say for sure, his producer Aled Haydn Jones, who is openly gay and has worked with Chris for six years. He says he's not.
'It bothers me that people think that he's homophobic,' he says wearily. 'I work so hard to make sure that the show is good. Why would I bother if he was?'
Although Aled is often the target of the Moyles show jokes, he's sure it's not because of his sexuality. The show is devised as a soap opera in which every member of the crew has an exaggerated character, and everybody takes the mikey out of everybody else: Chris for being overweight, Dave Vitty (aka Comedy Dave) for being grumpy, fellow producer Rachel Jones for her west country accent. His role is to be the Welsh one, the dippy one - and, yes, the camp one. 'I have straight friends who are camp and gay friends who aren't. It's not part of my sexuality.
In fact he'd be more upset if he was left out because of his sexuality, and believes that the last thing thing programme makers should do is treat the gay community as if there was a taboo in force. "It's the opposite we need.
Almost every gay man is looking for normality and acceptance - it's not a 'special' thing.'
He admits that at first he was nervous about admitting to being gay on air - having grown up in a small town he know that not all community attitudes to homomsexuality are as relaxed as they are in cities like London and Manchester. 'Chris just couldn't understand it,' he recalls. 'He would say to me: 'But this is part of you - why not?'
Of the 5000 texts the show gets every day a tiny percentage can be homophobic. Aled dismisses them as 'ignorant' but says it's Chris who leaps to his defence when things get unpleasant. 'Chris will be a mate and say on-air 'we don't want this kind of thing'.'
It's been suggested that if you're a teenager who's coming to terms with your sexuality, Radio 1 in the mornings is not the most reassuring place to be. This, says Aled, is rubbish. While he is nervous about the idea of being a role model ('I'm flawed, just like everyone else'), he insists that being an openly gay producer on a show with 8m listeners, and being integrated with the team, is a positive example of how sexuality need not be barrier to career progression. He wishes he'd seen more gay success stories when he was growing up. 'Julian Clary was the only gay in the media,' he remembers.