Submit your comments on this article | ||||
Britain | ||||
Media boss’s Nazi slur | ||||
2004-04-23 | ||||
How come the meetings I’m forced to attend are never as interesting as this one? T’is discrimination, I tell ya Porn publisher Richard Desmond, the owner of the Daily Express, brought a business meeting to a standstill yesterday after he goosestepped around a boardroom and accused all Germans of being Nazis. On the day his newspaper announced that it was switching its support from Labour to the Conservatives, Mr Desmond indulged in a display of behaviour described by a witness as the "most grotesque outburst of slander and racism" he had ever seen.
Mr Deedes responded by good-naturedly congratulating Mr Desmond on "seeing the light" over its new-found support for the Tories. Mr Desmond insisted the decision had had nothing to do with him, adding that his editors were independent. He then criticised Conrad Black, the embattled former chairman of the Telegraph Group, before reverting to faux German, asking if the Telegraph members of the West Ferry board were looking forward to being run by the Nazis. Mr Deedes said: "That’s not very helpful." He pointed out that Axel Springer made the reconciliation of Germans and Jews a publishing principle and that the group’s staff were required under their contracts to support the state of Israel. Mr Desmond replied angrily: "They’re all Nazis." Mr Deedes said the remark was "thoroughly offensive" and asked him politely to sit down so that the meeting could start. Mr Desmond told him: "Don’t you tell me to sit down, you miserable little piece of shit." Witnesses said his voice rose and he became enraged, launching into a stream of abuse - both personal and general - peppered with four-letter expletives. Mr Deedes eventually managed to make himself heard and said: "I’m not sure this meeting is going to be productive." Witnesses said there was a moment of calm before Mr Desmond renewed his attack with more references to the Nazis. He goose-stepped up and down the room, holding two fingers to his upper lip - in a Basil Fawlty parody of Hitler’s moustache - and giving stiff-armed Nazi salutes. When Mr Deedes remonstrated with him, Mr Desmond asked him if he wanted to "come outside and sort it out".
It is not the first time Mr Desmond, who is Jewish, has accused others of being Nazis. His newspapers have repeatedly dredged up the support that the Daily Mail showed to Hitler in the 1930s. Last year, he infuriated Lord Rothermere, the paper’s owner, by wrongly accusing his grandfather of supporting Hitler’s anti-Semitism. Yesterday, as the Express announced its support for the Tories, the paper mentioned the dictator again, claiming that only he could have dreamed of the monster that Europe has become in the 21st century. Although his circulation figures show no sign that he will ever succeed, he has claimed that defeating the Mail is his life’s mission. "I don’t want to sound like Jesus," he said last year, "but this is what I was born to do. They [the Mail] are everything I hate and I am everything they hate." In an interview last year, he complained about the press coverage he received. "It’s not nice being constantly vilified and attacked," he said.
| ||||
Posted by:tipper |
#7 I read all comments :) |
Posted by: djohn66 2004-04-23 9:28:58 PM |
#6 Thanks! I appreciate that. Was afraid I was just wasting Fred's bandwidth. Nice to know it wasn't unread :-) |
Posted by: B 2004-04-23 4:45:30 PM |
#5 Hi B! Hate to see a lonely poster ;> Good stuff tho. |
Posted by: Shipman 2004-04-23 4:24:01 PM |
#4 ooops..did it again!! Last sentence should have said, Is the American Mafia starting to get a clue that a rise of Islam in Europe will be bad for business? Freudian slip. |
Posted by: B 2004-04-23 12:47:16 PM |
#3 I know I'm talking to myself here...but seeing as how the Islamists have purchased more of the Labour party than they have of the conservatives or GOP....doesn't it make you wonder??? I mean...gambling and Islam go together well right? Makes me wonder about the fact that the Boston Globe has also made a strange shift away from their expected party line. In other articles today, they seem to have given Kerry the boot. Is the Boston Globe (no mafia in Boston, right?) starting to get a clue that a rise of Islam in Europe will be bad for business? |
Posted by: B 2004-04-23 12:45:11 PM |
#2 oops...last sentence should = come out in support of tories |
Posted by: B 2004-04-23 12:38:03 PM |
#1 For others who had trouble following this difficult, but funny and enlightening story... Porn Producer Richard Desmond, who has links to the American mafia and has said that his mission in life is defeating the Daily Mail, owns the Daily Express, which is under joint ownership of Express Newspapers and the Telegraph Group, the publisher of The Daily Telegraph. The partnership is because they co-own the printing press, one of the biggest in Europe. Other than that, they hate each other. On the day his (Desmond's Express) newspaper announced that it was switching its support from Labour to the Conservatives, he has a[nother] mental breakdown, apparently because of the German Axel Springer group’s bid to buy Hollinger International, the Telegraph’s owner..... So Desmond, who is Jewish, loses it and starts goose-stepping around the room, calling everyone Nazi's. The Telgraph defends it's new owner, self, saying (and this is interesting!!!) Axel Springer made the reconciliation of Germans and Jews a publishing principle and that the group’s staff were required under their contracts to support the state of Israel. The article ends with: "The Labour Party is going to have to explain why they gave him (Daffy Desmond) permission to take over the Express in the first place." Hmmm...could it be those mafia ties? The American Mafia owns the printing industry (and porn), here in the US. And the mafia is, here in the US, how shall I say it....more friendly with the DNC than with the RNC. Just yesterday, I saw on the news that the gaming industry is attempting to expand their business into the UK. So...then am I the only one who finds it interesting that their boy, Mr. Desmond, goes and buys a paper there??? Coincidence?? You decide. And one last question.....should we wonder why the Daily Express, purchased by the Mafia's guy, (possibly to help expand their gambling empire into the UK) ..... has suddenly done an about face and its editorals have suddenly come out in support of labour? There's more to this story. I'd like to know what it is. |
Posted by: B 2004-04-23 12:37:26 PM |