Abuse on the Menu

They're really scraping the bottom of the barrel when it comes to celebrity cancellations now, aren't they.  I mean, Gino D'Acampo?  For fuck's sake, he's barely a celebrity, let alone a chef.  His entire 'fame' is based around the fact that he's an amusing foreigner with a funny accent and penchant for gesticulating in a 'continental' manner - something much beloved by the UK's TV programme makers.  Except, of course, according to the latest 'shocking' celebrity revelations, away from the cameras, he's anything but amusing, allegedly harassing female co-workers with sexual comments and inappropriate behaviour.  As ever, I caveat this piece by noting that, at present, these are simply allegations, nothing has been proven in a court of law and that everyone is innocent until proven guilty.  That said, I'm not quite sure why the media  thinks that we should all be shocked by the idea that Gino D'Acampo might be a wrong 'un when, as I recall, he had a previous career as a burglar.  In fact, he burgled Paul Young's house, stealing several guitars, amongst other things.  Which fact, surely, disproves all those nonsensical claims that, these days, a celebrity only has to commit a single minor misdemeanour and they find themselves cancelled for life, their career in ruins.  Clearly, this is bollocks as being a burglar is apparently no barrier to becoming a celebrity chef.  (Interestingly, D'Acampo was once George Michael's personal chef.  Maybe he used Paul Young as a reference).

But getting back to the original point, are we now at the stage where all the really well known celebrities who can be outed as bastards, nonces and abusers have been outed?  Have the rest been investigated and found to be whiter than the driven snow?  Either that or they've armed themselves with better lawyers.  Or is this Gino D'Acampo business the result of ITV feeling that it has to keep up with the BBC, who got a lot of attention when Greg Wallace was being vilified as a sex fiend, so felt that they had to reveal one of their culinary celebrities as an alleged abuser?  If so, it hasn't really worked, as the D'Acampo revelations haven't generated anywhere near the level of media hatred that the Wallace ones did.  Possibly because, even before the allegations against him, Wallace was such an easy public figure to hate - coming over as pompous, pretentious and over bearing.  Which, I suspect, has a lot to do with which public figures see their careers completely wrecked by such allegations, which can be rehabilitated and which seem to walk away unscathed.  If the public already has a poor perception of them, they don't stand a chance of coming back from such accusations.  People are already keyed up to think the worst of them - just look at Russell Brand, whose descent into conspiracy theories, extreme right-wing politics and religious lunacy simply compounded public perceptions of him as an arsehole to the point that when he was accused of abusing women, people just shrugged and said, 'Yeah, so what?'.  As far as D'Acampo is concerned, having already weathered the burglary business ('youthful indiscretions'), it might well be that his otherwise subsequent unblemished image as a 'cheeky chappie', might just be enough to save him.  For now.