Noel Fielding’s silence is deafening

Detailed summary

While the noise surrounding Russell Brand’s sentencing this week has been booming, the silence from a man once famously in his inner circle is deafening: Noel Fielding. After…

While the noise surrounding Russell Brand’s sentencing this week has been booming, the silence from a man once famously in his inner circle is deafening: Noel Fielding.

After meeting at the NME Awards in the early 2000s, they became somewhat of a quirky double-act. They were regularly booked together as an off-the-wall package; hosted gigs like the Teenage Cancer Trust benefit; Fielding popped up on Brand’s BBC Radio 2 show; and they were a fan-favourite pairing on Channel 4’s Big Fat Quiz of The Year. They were often photographed together at events and on nights out, up until 2012.Fielding now presents The Great British Bake Off, one of the nation’s biggest TV shows, enjoyed by families across the country.

One historic clip that has been hard to stomach this week shows Brand and Fielding as teammates on Big Fat Quiz of the Year in 2007, dressed like some gothy panto double act, the ongoing joke being to keep them both away from a then 22-year-old Lily Allen sat beside Jonathan Ross.

“I’m a bit concerned because look where you’ve put us,” Ross tells host Jimmy Carr in the clip. “You’ve put the only sexually attractive young lady – well, the only young lady full stop, she happens to be very attractive as well – near two of the best known cocksmen of the business.”

Ross is referring to both Brand and Fielding. The pair then joke about rape and Jack the Ripper. “Now Lily might go home with her dress still on,” Ross quips as he settles into his new seat. Fielding is not facing any allegations of misconduct (or indeed facing allegations that he knew about the extent of Brand’s behaviour), but nonetheless this looks like a distasteful joke in hindsight.On Tuesday, Ross released a statement about his relationship with Brand, after facing calls to speak on their friendship – similar calls are also being made of Fielding. At the time of writing, he has not said anything.

Ross has since faced criticism for another resurfaced joke he made at the British Comedy Awards in 2004…

In a…

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