First, he receives complaints for his appearance on The One Show because of his deprecating jokes at the show's expense, and inability to answer a straight question without making a weak joke. Presenters Adrian Chiles and Christine Bleakley didn't seem to mind, and laughed along, but fans of the show went into meltdown on the One Show messageboard.
Then, while Radio 1 DJ Chris Moyles was up Kilimanjaro helping raise £2m for Comic Relief, rumours circulated that Radio 1 were considering axing their older presenters, as most are now in their mid-30s1. Probably just tittle-tattle to fill column inches in tabloids, but it felt like it was only being discussed because Moyles was in a different continent half-way up a mountain!
Last Monday, comedian Stewart Lee ridiculed Moyles' best-selling tome "The Difficult Second Book" apart (a self-described "toilet book") in his new series. Ouch.
Last night, John Humphrys2 condemned Moyles' "pub talk" on I've Never Seen Star Wars wih Marcus Brigstocke, that featured an uncomfortable clip from a recent instalment of the DJ's breakfast show where Moyles and his team picked on a colleague's breast size.
Sure, it’s a coincidental quirk of scheduling that so much crap is being thrown at Chris Moyles recently, but isn't that all it takes for public opinion to change? Personally, I've never had too much of a problem with Moyles. I listen to his radio show every morning. There are moments when he oversteps the mark, irritates, or just bores... but I think you'd find toe-curling radio from anyone broadcasting 3.5 hours of radio every weekday and hired to be laddish.
Anyway, Chris Moyles has a new television show starting this Sunday, so is all publicity good publicity? Or will that show provide even more ammunition for the haters?
1. They actually have a point. Jo Whiley's in her forties, for crying out loud! But do we really want the likes of Reggie Yates on-air more often?
2. Coincidentally, Humphrys also stuck the knife into The Da Vinci Code (as did Stewart Lee), so it hasn't been a good week for author Dan Brown either!
