Twitter has been alight with the news that one of the UK’s biggest and best known talk show hosts, Jonathan Ross, has withdrawn from his role as Master of Ceremonies at this year’s Hugo Awards.
For those who don’t have a clue who he is, he isn’t too far from the mould of Jay Leno or Conan O’Brien. There’s no denying that his style is slightly edgier, he has at times stepped over the line (and apologised for doing so), but generally he is one of the very few interviewers that celebrities enjoy being quizzed by… In his most recent show, Claudia Schiffer who has never once featured on a UK talk show due to her anxiety and shyness of being in front of an audience made an exception for the friendly and charismatic ‘Wossy’.
In terms of popularity, his ‘Jonathan Ross Show’ on ITV is one of our country’s most watched programmes and draws in over 3 million viewers each week. Most importantly of all though, Ross is a huge geek. He has not only written comics himself, but openly and enthusiastically talks about and promotes the genre at every chance he gets – exposing SFF to an audience who would otherwise think it is for ‘recluse dorks’.
So, when this years WorldCon (Loncon3) tweeted:
We’re very excited to announce that Jonathan Ross (@wossy) will be hosting The #HugoAwards this year at #Loncon3!
I thought it was a brave decision, but could work out pretty well to carry forward the growing momentum. Bringing in a well-known celebrity to host SFF’s largest awards shows was pretty exciting. In recent years SFF has been exposed to the mainstream through HBO and Hollywood big time, now celebrities are feeling confident enough to host our award ceremonies? Ace! Well, that was until the SFF community turned around and told Ross they didn’t want him… Some used productive comments that his ‘form’ for off colour gags could be risky following the recent SFWA troubles, others others called him a monster and some – using incorrect and fabricated information – accused him of abusing women and the disabled.
Seanan McGuire’s Tweet was perhaps the most extreme by a published author:
Wait. WAIT. They’re letting JONATHAN ROSS present the Hugos? WHAT THE FUCKING FUCK.
And added, in the following tweets, as an explanation for her shock:
“You know, I’ve really enjoyed knowing that, were I to be nominated for a Hugo, the host wouldn’t see me and make fat jokes” … “Like, that thought has actually crossed my mind, when shopping for Hugo dresses” … “The host won’t mock me.” … “Thanks, @loncon3, for taking that small bit of comfort and reassurance away from me.”
Note: These are the first few tweets. Many more from Seanan here
Shortly after a barrage of Tweets, Loncon3 tweeted again:
“We regret to announce that Jonathan Ross @wossy has graciously withdrawn from his role as Master of Ceremonies for @TheHugoAwards.”
And Jonathan quickly followed that Tweet with:
“I have decided to withdraw from hosting the Hugo’s @loncon3 in response to some who would rather I weren’t there. Have a lovely convention.”
After stepping down, Jonathan revealed that Neil Gaiman had personally asked him to host the event. And it was another genre giant, Paul Cornell, who was one of the first to respond to Jonathan’s Tweet announcing his stepping down:
I think that’s courteous and kind of you. I hope there’ll be an occasion when the SF community welcomes you.
Tony Lee pointed out the hypocritical look this gave to a number of the more personal attacks:
So @wossy has stepped down from hosting the Hugos at #Loncon3. Great to see that genre folk hate rudeness but are fine with cyber bullying.
A slightly longer post in reply to a blog Charlie Stross wrote applauding the decision to shun Ross, read:
For what it’s worth, I think a lot of the worries about Jonathan Ross are overblown. Yes, he’s a comedian, and some of his jokes are in very bad taste. On the other hand, he’s also been targeted by the tabloid outrage merchants: and a 20 year career in stand-up is more than long enough to give anyone’s enemies a ready-made armoury. I’m not in any position to judge how much of his public persona is a fabrication of his enemies: I just don’t know. So I will reserve judgement on Jonathan Ross, the man.
There is no word yet on who will replace him, but we will let you know as soon as we find out.
