[Wykey]

It wasn't so much her interviewing him, although I'm guessing her style is more your hairdresser's waiting room magazine style than Frost / Nixon style.

It was more that she clearly thought The Shawshank Redemption and Batman were the only things he'd been in.

And it sounded like he sussed her out and decided to show her up after about thirty seconds.

[Zoot]

It was more that she clearly thought The Shawshank Redemption and Batman were the only things he'd been in.

And Bruce Almighty

[Wykey]

Yeah, and Bruce Almighty.

"If you were God, what would you do and why?"

[Yudster]

I heard on the show today Chris asking Aled if it was worth listening to clips from the interview - immediately and very bluntly Aled just said "No" - and then spent the next ten minutes trying not to say what he thought about the interview. I didn't hear it, but my guess is that it was pretty dire.......

[C-Kay]

It might have something to do with this...

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/sh ... eeman.html

RADIO 1 DJ Fearne Cotton shocked listeners with a gaffe about "cotton pickin' " as she interviewed black actor Morgan Freeman yesterday.

Fearne, 27, blurted out the politically incorrect phrase when explaining her name.

It sparked an online debate over whether it related to work historically done by slaves in America's Deep South.

She told Freeman, 72: "My first name is F.E.A.R.N.E. - bit of a weird one.

"And then Cotton, like cotton pickin'."

A listener remarked: "Maybe not the best way of describing your name to Morgan Freeman!"

A Radio 1 spokesman said: "Fearne clearly did not mean anything."

She was talking to Freeman about his new movie Invictus, where he plays Nelson Mandela.

Read more: http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/sh ... z0ePAghJQo

Well done Fearne

[Johnny 1989]

It might have something to do with this...

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/sh ... eeman.html

RADIO 1 DJ Fearne Cotton shocked listeners with a gaffe about "cotton pickin' " as she interviewed black actor Morgan Freeman yesterday.

Fearne, 27, blurted out the politically incorrect phrase when explaining her name.

It sparked an online debate over whether it related to work historically done by slaves in America's Deep South.

She told Freeman, 72: "My first name is F.E.A.R.N.E. - bit of a weird one.

"And then Cotton, like cotton pickin'."

A listener remarked: "Maybe not the best way of describing your name to Morgan Freeman!"

A Radio 1 spokesman said: "Fearne clearly did not mean anything."

She was talking to Freeman about his new movie Invictus, where he plays Nelson Mandela.

Read more: http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/sh ... z0ePAghJQo

Well done Fearne

The dippy cow, see Moyles or Dominic wouldn't have done something so silly

[Wykey]

It might have something to do with this...

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/sh ... eeman.html

I didn't even noticed that, since when has "cotton picking" been a politically incorrect phrase? Isn't cotton picked? Or does it magic itself of the plant?

If she'd called him a cotton-picker, then they'd have a point.

What a crap story.

[Munki Bhoy]

Yeah, typical British gutter press non-story. Why the * do people still insist on buying these rags?! Stop it! Let them die already!

[DevilsDuck]

Why the * do people still insist on buying these rags?!

BOOBIES!

[Munki Bhoy]

Why the * do people still insist on buying these rags?!

BOOBIES!

Surely "there's an app for that"? Or at least google has them!

[Yudster]

It might have something to do with this...

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/sh ... eeman.html

I didn't even noticed that, since when has "cotton picking" been a politically incorrect phrase? Isn't cotton picked? Or does it magic itself of the plant?

If she'd called him a cotton-picker, then they'd have a point.

What a crap story.

Its a reference to the slave trade - cotton in America was traditionally harvested by hand by black slaves.

[Wykey]

It might have something to do with this...

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/sh ... eeman.html

I didn't even noticed that, since when has "cotton picking" been a politically incorrect phrase? Isn't cotton picked? Or does it magic itself of the plant?

If she'd called him a cotton-picker, then they'd have a point.

What a crap story.

Its a reference to the slave trade - cotton in America was traditionally harvested by hand by black slaves.

No it's not, it's a way of communicating the spelling of her name.

Cotton is still picked now, not by slaves but by paid workers. As I said, if she'd called him a cotton picker, there's a story.

As it is, there just isn't.

Despite the fact it was one of the worst interviews ever, she hasn't said anything wrong and if anyone was "shocked", they need to have a word with themselves.

[Yudster]

Of course cotton is still picked, but the phrase "cotton pickin'" is specific to a period in America's history, having become common usage due to the popularisation of slave music - which used to be known as "negro spirituals" (couldn't get away with that any more), and the connotations are very real to many African Americans. Lets face it, she could have used hundreds of completely non-contentious ways of "communicating the spelling of her name" but she chose the only one which might have caused offence. Whether it SHOULD cause offence is another question, and not being African American and not having that history, I'm not qualified to say. Personally, I don't give a toss.

[Wykey]

Of course cotton is still picked, but the phrase "cotton pickin'" is specific to a period in America's history, having become common usage due to the popularisation of slave music - which used to be known as "negro spirituals" (couldn't get away with that any more), and the connotations are very real to many African Americans. Lets face it, she could have used hundreds of completely non-contentious ways of "communicating the spelling of her name" but she chose the only one which might have caused offence. Whether it SHOULD cause offence is another question, and not being African American and not having that history, I'm not qualified to say. Personally, I don't give a toss.

So by that token, the very word Cotton has the same connotations to African Americans.

She couldn't have said anything that didn't relate in one way or another to cotton, because her surname is Cotton.

[Yudster]

Of course cotton is still picked, but the phrase "cotton pickin'" is specific to a period in America's history, having become common usage due to the popularisation of slave music - which used to be known as "negro spirituals" (couldn't get away with that any more), and the connotations are very real to many African Americans. Lets face it, she could have used hundreds of completely non-contentious ways of "communicating the spelling of her name" but she chose the only one which might have caused offence. Whether it SHOULD cause offence is another question, and not being African American and not having that history, I'm not qualified to say. Personally, I don't give a toss.

So by that token, the very word Cotton has the same connotations to African Americans.

She couldn't have said anything that didn't relate in one way or another to cotton, because her surname is Cotton.

Yes she could - it was the use of the word "pickin" in conjunction with the word "cotton" which was contentious. Why is this so hard for you to grasp?! I'm not saying that I found it contentious - but I can certainly understand why African Americans might.

[Johnny 1989]

Of course cotton is still picked, but the phrase "cotton pickin'" is specific to a period in America's history, having become common usage due to the popularisation of slave music - which used to be known as "negro spirituals" (couldn't get away with that any more), and the connotations are very real to many African Americans. Lets face it, she could have used hundreds of completely non-contentious ways of "communicating the spelling of her name" but she chose the only one which might have caused offence. Whether it SHOULD cause offence is another question, and not being African American and not having that history, I'm not qualified to say. Personally, I don't give a toss.

So by that token, the very word Cotton has the same connotations to African Americans.

She couldn't have said anything that didn't relate in one way or another to cotton, because her surname is Cotton.

Yes she could - it was the use of the word "pickin" in conjunction with the word "cotton" which was contentious. Why is this so hard for you to grasp?! I'm not saying that I found it contentious - but I can certainly understand why African Americans might.

She could have said like Cotton Wool or Cotton Bud rather than Cotton Picking

[h2512]

The best part of her show is the handover with Chris. Chris and sometimes Zane are all i listen to. The rest of radio 1 is utter garbage. Mills can have some funny features, but his whole show is like one big tease for whats coming up later and im just not prepared to sit through that gawd awfull playlist for any pay off..

[123qwerty]

nice group about here on facebook if you are interested http://www.facebook.com/?ref=logo#!/gro ... 8946669352

[Wykey]

Of course cotton is still picked, but the phrase "cotton pickin'" is specific to a period in America's history, having become common usage due to the popularisation of slave music - which used to be known as "negro spirituals" (couldn't get away with that any more), and the connotations are very real to many African Americans. Lets face it, she could have used hundreds of completely non-contentious ways of "communicating the spelling of her name" but she chose the only one which might have caused offence. Whether it SHOULD cause offence is another question, and not being African American and not having that history, I'm not qualified to say. Personally, I don't give a toss.

So by that token, the very word Cotton has the same connotations to African Americans.

She couldn't have said anything that didn't relate in one way or another to cotton, because her surname is Cotton.

Yes she could - it was the use of the word "pickin" in conjunction with the word "cotton" which was contentious. Why is this so hard for you to grasp?! I'm not saying that I found it contentious - but I can certainly understand why African Americans might.

Because it's nonsense.

The act of picking cotton is NOT contentious.

Accusing someone of being a cotton picker, probably is.

Why is that so hard for you to grasp?

[Yudster]

Because it's nonsense.

The act of picking cotton is NOT contentious.

Accusing someone of being a cotton picker, probably is.

Why is that so hard for you to grasp?

Because that's not what's happening. It would be perfectly easy to talk of picking cotton, and indeed if someone had a job doing just that, I'm sure it would be fine to refer to them as a cotton picker, and to what they do as cotton picking. But "Cotton pickin'" as a colloquialism - a COLLOQUIALISM, not a commentary or a description - is specifically related to the issues I mentioned. And that's how she used it, whether you like it or not.

[Wykey]

Whether I like it or not?

Turn it in.

You're the one who's deciding arbitrarily how she was using the phrase. It's like me saying roger black's name's spelled like the colour.

Lots of potential connotations there, if you want them.

No one else, not the person she said it to, thinks that's how it was intended. It's CLEAR to anyone it was simply a tool to communicate the spelling of the word cotton.

[Yudster]

The daft thing is Wykey, that when it comes down to it we actually hold the same opinion really. I'm in complete agreement with you that people are far too quick to assume racial motivations for things we just SAY, and the idea that we should all censor our conversation to such a huge extent makes me more than irritated. All I'm doing is trying to put the view of the people who ARE offended - whether we agree with it or not, they have their reasons. Its quite possible that Morgan Freeman could be as offended by Fearne Cotton saying "Cotton, like in "cotton-pickin'"" as he would have been by Roger Black saying "Black, as in "black as the massa's boy"". For him, the connotations could be exactly the same because the colloquialised phrases both stem from the same historical context - its just far more obvious to non African Americans that the second one (which I haven't heard for years thank goodness) would be offensive.

And yes, "Whether you like ot or not" was a ridiculous thing to say, I apologise.

[123qwerty]

she even had to turn up at the birthday show. The photos i saw looked proper cringeworthy with her looking bored in most then all over chris for the staged photos

[DannyTheSaviourBaker]

Lets just sum things up with a simple equation. Fearne Cotton = Waste of existence, that is all.

[Candyman]

Lets just sum things up with a simple equation. Fearne Cotton = Waste of existence, that is all.

Danny, you could'nt have put it any better, take a bow son