David Lammy lambasts Comic Relief

DarkEntity

I stopped feeling any guilt for them or passing off any money a long time ago, its a total waste.  you would be as well just setting your money on fire.  We should just be leaving them to it.  If by now they cant figure out how to dig their own wells, grow their own foods etc should they survive?  (if it were an animal species it would be extinct and rightly so)

Continually throwing oodles of money at these countries isn't fixing anything, they are quite happy to continually gobble up free money which seems to do nothing much and vanish into thin air.

harsh, yes, slightly heartless, maybe.  We have issues on our doorstep that our own governments don't have money for which we should be fixing first.

Matt_C

I don't get what the problem is. Charities use celebrities because celebrities pique public interest/catch people's eye/make people sit up and take notice, to raise awareness for the plight they want to receive donations for. Celebrities do it because a) they believe in it, b) get paid, c) get exposure, d) combination/all of the above. That's basic advertising 101 really. Sending a "no-one" (as in, regular member of the public like you or me) over there won't catch anyone's interest and thus won't generate any donations. So his issue can't be with the use of celebrity, cos that would just make him look stupid.

So then we turn to the "white saviour comment" - is his issue with her because she's white? Can't be - it's not her fault she's white, she didn't choose to be. And it can't be that all celebrity ambassadors to the cause are white because I thought one of the most prolific and well-known Comic Relief ambassadors was Lenny Henry. So it can't be that she's white, cos that would just make him look stupid.

So then it must be the black baby, no? But hang on, isn't this about poverty stricken Africa? Forgive me if I'm wrong, but I thought that pretty much all the babies in poverty stricken Africa, such as Uganda as seen here, are black? So it can't be that the baby is black, cos that would just make him look stupid.

Wait, hang on. I'm seeing a pattern here...

Sonic67

Money raised is down.

Comic Relief wedding helps raise £63m

By the end of the broadcast, more than £63m had been raised. The last Red Nose Day, two years ago, raised £71.3m by the end of the evening.

This year's Red Nose Day telethon also saw a dip in ratings, with an average of 5.6 million people tuning in - 600,000 fewer viewers compared to 2017.

The highest amount the event has raised so far was £108.4m in 2011, once all the pledges had been redeemed.

nabby

I never watch it. Too much self congratulatory back-slapping, with little on the comic side of things.  I prefer to give to charities of my choosing and happily give the kids a quid each on red nose day to drop in the school collection bucket.

Cliff

I think its past its sell by date. We are all very much more aware of what is going on in the world.  The days of Bob Geldof banging his fist on the table for money and insulting anyone who thought differently, are way behind us.
My friends choose to make donations very selectively these days.

Pacifico

I see that David Lammy is now being blamed for the fall in donations. So less people saved from starvation in Africa but at least less white stereotypes...

richp007

I caught about 10 minutes, during which I had to endure Paddy McGuiness trying to be funny.

I believe that was more than enough to stop people donating.

SteakAndCake

I saw the "comedy" clip with that Bodyguard chap, Joanna Lumney, and Keeley Hawes on the Highlights show.  Jesus, it was bad.  Dull, flat, obvious, witless.   If that was a highlight, the rest must have been sewage.

krish

It was originally with the cream of the youngish (so called "alternative") comedy circuit, like the Secret Policeman's Ball, but then upon joining forces with the BBC it eventually morphed into a carbon copy of Children In Need, mainly involving publicity hungry celebs and little comedy talent. Needs a shake up. Hand it over to the likes of Bob Mortimer and James Acaster.

Greg Hook

That’s a spot on analysis.

Comic Relief was always completely different to Children in Need. It had some superb comedy, quite edgy and was a total contrast to Children in Need.

Now though you would be hard pressed to tell the difference between the two.