The comedian Rosie Jones has spoken about her experience of suffering ableist abuse online after a recent television appearance.
In December, Jones, who has cerebral palsy, said that she was “lying low” after having received abuse following her appearance of The Big Fat Quiz of the Year. The comedian was a panellist on the year-end Channel 4 quiz on Boxing Day alongside Katherine Ryan, Mo Gilligan, Richard Ayoade, Mel Giedroyc and Kevin Bridges.
Now, in a new interview with The Guardian, she has spoken about how the episode affected her personally.
“I’d be lying if I said it didn’t upset me, but luckily, I am surrounded by such a strong network of brilliant friends, family, colleagues who support me,” she said.
“Do I need a thick skin? Yes, I bloody do. But I’m able to switch it off, I don’t look at social media when I’m on TV and I focus on the positives.”
After the December appearance, Jones reposted a statement that she had shared in the wake of a similar torrent of ableist abuse targeted towards her after her appearance on The Royal Variety Show.
“Comedy is subjective and it’s ok if I’m not your cup of tea. But please remember the difference between personal preference and downright ableism.”
Rinse and repeat. Different telly show, same old ableism. Thanks for the support, but I’m gonna lie low for a bit and sink into the perineum of Christmas and New Year. https://t.co/cYuvaXuA6A
— Rosie Jones (@josierones) December 28, 2023
“Rinse and repeat,” she added. “Different telly show, same old ableism. Thanks for the support, but I’m gonna lie low for a bit and sink into the perineum of Christmas and New Year.”
Jones also fronted a documentary last year about the online abuse disabled people face on social media, but its title, Rosie Jones: Am I A R*****?, was the subject of widespread controversy. It led to multiple contributors to the documentary withdrawing their consent from the project after going “backwards and forwards” with the network over the title.
Jones said in a statement defending the title choice: “I get it, a lot of people will find this word very shocking and upsetting. But in my opinion, society doesn’t take this word and other ableist forms of language as seriously as any other form of abuse from any other minorities.”
“So I said to Channel 4: ‘Let’s do it, let’s tackle the problem head on and use that word in the title and then, hopefully, people will think twice about using the word and other ableist slurs ever again’.”
Jones is set to host the new comedy panel show Out of Order on Comedy Central, which begins on February 26.
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