It's time for the BBC to get off the fence that Jonathan Ross built

Seven months after Jonathan Ross was suspended and Russell Brand resigned from the BBC following prank phone calls to veteran actor Andrew Sachs, the broadcasting corporation has made the decision to pre-record Ross’ Saturday morning radio show. In a statement that firmly avoids eye contact with the elephant in the room that is the comedian’s crass and crude humour, the BBC said the move was a precautionary measure to ensure the show is “watertight”, and that pre-recording their shows is common practice. We can all await the pre-recording of Terry Wogan’s show then, presumably.

Needless to say I don’t enjoy Ross’ brand of humour. I find him sleazy and embarrassing, and certainly not worth the £6 million a year price tag he comes attached with. His Friday night television show is a brilliant showcasing of self-indulgence (there would almost be no need for guests at all, were Ross not so keen on inappropriate jokes directed at pretty young women) and his radio show a continuous cause for apology from the BBC, following sarcastic comments about the Sachs affair, and casual homophobia that led to this recent development.

Despite that, I thought the Sachs affair was a textbook case of Daily Mail moral hysteria about something that wasn’t really that offensive at all when compared to the daily hate campaign against immigrants, single parents and the working class vomited out by that very newspaper on a regular basis. Neither do I have the arrogance to demand someone be sacked because I don’t personally find them to my liking. Ross is a hugely popular entertainer, and indeed I can think of more offensive characters who broadcast on BBC radio. Every weekday morning.

The problem, though, is that the BBC now has had to come down on one side of this debate, and firmly landed on neither. If Ross is as much as a threat to BBC dignity as the corporation apparently sees him, it is time he was rid of. Perhaps one day it will rue the day its schedule was dictated by moral reactionaries, but if this is the path the BBC seems to be taking it is no use walking halfway there then faltering with an incompetent hesitancy. On the other hand, if Ross is such a valuable asset, worth every penny of the 1000 journalists’ salaries he is treated to, the BBC must press on in support of its star, cease apologising and back-bending and put two fingers up to censorship, fighting off middle-England and Offcom as it goes. Either way, if the BBC sits on this ever more unstable fence for much longer Ross will continue to be more of a nuisance than he needs to be.