Johnny Vegas and Personal Responsiblity

There is a bit of a fuss being made over a "comedic" performance by Johnny Vegas last week. I " " the word comedic because there seem to be plenty of people who didn't find it very funny, and by all accounts I've read, it doesn't sound like something I'd laugh at.

So, more or less, here's the joke: Johnny rounds up 6 guys from the audience, whom he calls pall bearers, to pick up a young woman (18-19ish) from the front row and bring her on stage. He tells her that she needs to act dead and that he will bring her back to life with a kiss. Except, that's not all that happens. He straddles her, gropes her, and, as one journalist describes it, "fingers" her. While all of this is going on, he makes remarks about wanting to be inside her and for her to keep still, threatening to kick her in the ribs at one point. Now, it should be noted that Johnny is a rather large man, so for him to be on top of a woman is likely to be intimidating and possibly physically threatening in itself.

Now, here is the dilemma, several members of the audience are calling this sexual assault and other people are saying that this young woman should have stopped this if she didn't like it (or at least approve of it). As a big advocate of personal responsibility, I am certainly on the side of believing she should have stopped this - or that any concerned member of the audience should have stopped this or walked out or talked to the management. But, this is a difficult situation. He apparently took some time to get her to submit to being carried on stage and since he said earlier that he was going to wake her with a kiss, certainly no one was expecting this.

Mostly, who is going to be the party pooper? Who will ruin the fun for everyone? Is this girl going to stop this giant man on top of her while an audience full of people watch?

I'm just saying, it sucks to always have to be the person who is responsible, assertive, and overly cautious. Yes, she should have stopped him - but even more importantly, she shouldn't have had to. It isn't acceptable for anyone to go around touching stranger's genitals, particularly a large man touching a woman's vagina and breasts. If she was uncomfortable at all, as many people seem to think she was, then lets place the blame where it belongs - with Johnny Vegas, who did obviously inappropriate things to a member of his audience who wasn't prepared for this kind of maltreatment.