Wayne Rooney's brother is in trouble for singing some anti-Mancunian songs into a mobile phone, delighting in the fact that Harold Shipman killed people from Manchester, making him a Scouser. Because all people in Liverpool want is for people in Manchester to die. Even if they are old and have done nothing wrong.
The story was in a few of the tabloids today and I ended up talking about the story on air. Wayne's brother is probably not the most intelligent man in the world. He may not even be the most intelligent man in the Rooney family. He has done a stupid thing, probably for the amusement of his mates, without thinking that it is going to be reported to the country. The Sunday Mirror (I think) had even gone as far to ask some of the families of the victims of Shipman what they thought about it. But who is the real immoral person in this? The bloke who makes sick and rubbish jokes with his mates or the people who then go and tell those jokes to people who will find them very upsetting.
We all make sick jokes with our friends and if these jokes were taken out of context we could all be made to look as idiotic as Rooney junior. He did make the mistake of recording his idiotic remarks (and of having a face very similar to one of the most famous people in the country) but I doubt that he is geuninely delighted at the death of Shipman's victims and even if he was he hasn't been going round to the houses of the victims' families to sing his witless songs, but the journalists have, so they in my mind are worse than him.
I was mocking the stupid Rooney nonetheless saying how rubbish his songs were and Andrew Collings told me I had to sing one of the songs. It was to the tune of "London Bridge is Falling Down" and went "Harold Shipman killed your gran, killed you gran, killed your gran. Harold Shipman killed your gran. He's a Scouser!"
It is only in hindsight I realise that I have now sung that song on national radio. In context it would be just about understandable, but the tabloids could take that out alone and suddenly I am singing this song to be heard by people all over the world. Not like Rooney who did it for his friends. A relative of one of the victims might have been listening, to be assailed by this vulgar song, coming out of my mouth. Collings tricked me. And now I've written about it on my blog increasing the chances of upsetting someone. I am worse than Rooney and all journalists put together.
Interesting though, because I was chastising Rooney for his foolishness at recording himself singing this song, whilst I was talking live to the world (admittedly just the small proportion that listen to 6 Music) and doing the same thing. And I like to think of myself as clever, but was as clueless as him about what the repercussions of that could be. I'll probably be OK, but it just goes to show that any of us can be caught off guard.
My defence is that I am just reporting the news. Any of the BBC newsreaders might have ended up singing that song to illustrate the story.
I just hope none of my many fans in Spain were listening. I can't afford to alienate any more of them.
