Wing & a Prayer Productions

It seems that, at last, one can now walk into a shop without it being inevitable that the music being piped around the store is by Michael Jackson. While it’s not been unknown for me to buy his music, there is only so long that you can listen to the same tracks ad nauseum (which is also why it’s a mercy when Christmas is over).

Having said this I was genuinely disturbed at the fact that, within a week of Jackson being dead, satirists on the BBC and elsewhere were already making jokes at his expense. Some were very cruel, others less so, but I couldn’t help feeling that some respect should be reserved for the dead.

By contrast, I remember the outrage there was when Rory Bremner did an impression of the deceased Lady Diana (If I remember rightly she was enjoying spending time with Versace in the afterlife), several months after her death. Arguably it wasn’t in the best taste but certainly a lot better than many of the jokes about Jackson.

Why these double standards? I know some will argue that Lady Di was a great philanthropist whereas ‘Wacko Jacko’ was, at best, always a bit odd (and, at worst, there were those molestation allegations that seemed to dog him). But are we then saying that we grant people dignity on the basis of what they’ve achieved? To some degree I can understand this; those who’ve touched many lives in a positive way will naturally attract more praise. But shouldn’t there be some basic level of respect that all people deserve in death?

There is a side issue here and that is, whoever people are, at what point does it become right to make jokes about them after their death? Obviously we make jokes about great disasters in human history (be they Black Death or the Great Fire of London or the Norman Conquest) because they are so distant from us and many generations lie between us and those who experienced them (thinking of Monty Python’s ‘Bring out your dead’ from The Holy Grail, which still makes me chuckle). But if someone were to make a joke about the recent earthquake in Haiti we’d think they were sick. Yet is what’s being suffered by the people of Haiti now any worse than what happened in Europe when the Black Death swept through? Funny what a difference a few centuries make.

And there are some jokes that should never be told.  Referring back to jokes about Michael Jackson, a number of jokes made about him in life were distasteful too. These become even worse when told at the graveside. It’s one thing telling a funny story about a dead friend we remember fondly; it’s another when we’re being cruel and unfeeling, just using another for a cheap laugh.

As so often, there are probably no clear cut answers on this one. But I think it is always the duty of anyone telling a joke, be it professionally or just to a friend down the pub, to think about the spirit in which we tell it, particularly when it’s about those who are no longer able to defend themselves.

Words have a lot more power than we think.