My view on that Rebel Wilson joke

For those of you who are yet to hear about it, Rebel Wilson delivered a speech when presenting the Best Supporting Actor award at the BAFTAs which has divided opinion owing to one particular gag about the transgender community. Here is the video in full.

Credit: The Guardian

During the minute or so long speech she joked about the recent #OscarsSoWhite row when she jibed "I have never been invited to the Oscars because, as you know, they are racist. But the BAFTAs have diverse members, and that's what we all want to see in life, diverse members." Nothing too offensive there. She then went on to say "One day I hope to return here to win a BAFTA myself. I have already been praticing my transgender face."

It was the last line that has caused all the lampooning by the Media. In my view Rebel is guilty of one thing and one thing only here, she didn't consider her audience. 

To give you another example of a joke in very poor taste, below is a video of Frankie Boyle getting lots of laughs on Mock the Week for mercilessly ripping into David Blunkett.

Credit: BBC2

I don't remember quite so much coverage in the media about what a terrible person Frankie Boyle is (even though he is and wears the tag proudly). The difference being that Frankie didn't make the joke in front of a room full of his peers at an award ceremony. Don't even get me started on Jim Jefferies and some of his material...

If there was going to be outcry for any of the jokes told by Wilson then it probably should have been her "chocolate on Valentine's day" quip at Idris Elba. Is that harmless fun because it looked to me like racism? If I did that in my workplace I'd be hauled in front of HR quicker than you can say "Luther."

Rebel's had her slap on the wrist now and probably hasn't (or ever will) learn her lesson. Let's find something else to talk about shall we?