Comedian Rosie Jones has divided opinions with the title of her new documentary Am I A R****d?
Several contributors have now withdrawn from the project, but Channel 4 have stood firm in their support for the Jones and the title.
In the documentary, Jones, who has ataxic cerebral palsy, sets out to explore the online abuse disabled people face across social media platforms.
However, after reportedly refusing to compromise over the title, contributors Shelby Lynch, Kate Stanforth and Lucy Dawson have withdrawn their consent to be shown in the documentary.
Shelby Lynch
Instagram/shelbykinsxo
Taking to Instagram, Lynch wrote: “The last few months have been very emotionally draining for me.
“As some of you may know we were asked to take part in a documentary about Ableism and Online Trolling with a well known disabled comedian.
“Talking about ableism on mainstream TV [is] obviously something that needs to be discussed but the way it’s happened isn’t something that I can support and all three of us spoke out against them.
“We were told a few months ago that the documentary was going to include a slur that is used against disabled people and I was heartbroken.
“I didn’t want anything to do with the documentary unless the name was changed and we went backwards and forwards for what feels like forever.”
Kate Stanforth (left), Shelby Lynch (right) and Lucy Dawson (centre)
Instagram/katestanforth
She added: “Ultimately it was decided that the three of us would be removed from the documentary instead of the name being changed.
“I really hope you understand that we did all we could to change the title but unfortunately we weren’t listened to.”
Kate Stanforth, a ballerina and influencer, claimed that the contributors had “a lengthy discussion on why we think the title will be damaging to the disabled community and major pressure to change this”.
Stanforth wrote on Instagram: “Obviously, a lot of us are really disappointed on the title. It’s such a shame the disabled community weren’t listened to on this one.
But, I hope this brings awareness to how awful disabled hate crime is and that this encourages change to happen in many forms.”
Jones has doubled down on the decision
PA
Josie Jones responded: “I get it, a lot of people will find this word very shocking and upsetting.
“But in my opinion, society doesn’t take this word and other ableist forms of language as seriously as any other form of abuse from any other minorities.”
“So I said to Channel 4: ‘Let’s do it, let’s tackle the problem head on and use that word in the title and then, hopefully, people will think twice about using the word and other ableist slurs ever again.'”
A spokesperson for Channel 4 said: “This film is an authored documentary by Rosie Jones to raise awareness and educate viewers about the issue of ableism and the scale of abuse she and other disabled people face daily.
“The use of the R-word in the documentary is within context of the subject matter being explored and specific to the abuse Rosie receives on social media.
“The film makes very clear it is an unacceptable and offensive ableist term and its inclusion was carefully considered.”
Rosie Jones: Am I A R*****? is expected to be green lighted to air on Channel 4 later in the year.
