http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2-1728807,00.html





Band on the run over 'fat' insult

By Adam Sherwin

Chubby stars the Magic Numbers storm off Top of the Pops after presenter?s ill-judged introduction









THEY?VE been called chubby, metabolically challenged and a band with songs to diet for. But the Magic Numbers walked out on Top of the Pops after one fat gibe too many.

Critics agree that the Mercury Prize-nominated band, comprised of two pairs of siblings, are a breath of fresh air in a ?cool?-obsessed music scene.







The melodic West London band are hirsute and unapologetically larger than the average anorexic chart wannabe. Their debut album has gone gold on the merits of its blissful West Coast-style harmonies rather than their stylist.



Yet the four-piece stormed out of the BBC studios just before their long-awaited Top of the Pops debut after hearing an ill-judged introduction from Richard Bacon, the presenter.



He asked: ?What do you get when you put two brothers and two sisters in a band? A big fat melting pot.? The correct answer turned out to be a new Sunday night BBC Two edition of the chart show without one of its star acts. Band members Romeo (vocals and guitar) and Michele (bass) Stoddart, and Sean (drums) and Angela (vocals) Gannon, yesterday issued a statement on their walkout.



It read: ?Due to derogatory, unfunny remarks made during the guest presenter?s introduction to our performance, we felt we had to make a stand and leave. It was an important day for us and should have been special. We didn?t take this decision lightly but we stand by it.? The band apologised to fans who tuned in to see them, adding: ?Believe us, we were disappointed too.?



Bacon is no stranger to controversy. He was the Blue Peter presenter sacked for taking cocaine and has been given a second chance by the BBC. The BBC said that Bacon was ?mortified? and tried to apologise to the band, whom he likes and had not intended to offend. ?The intention was to refer to the band?s ?big? status, not their physical size,? the BBC said.



Stick-thin miming pop stars, regularly paraded on the chart show, are cited as negative influences on the body image of teenage girls. The BBC said that the programme did not discriminate against larger-sized musicians and appealed to the Magic Numbers to return and perform their song, Love Me Like You.



Top of the Pops has itself struggled to find an audience since being offloaded from BBC One last month. It is watched by little more than a million viewers on Sundays compared with 2.5 million on Friday nights.



The band, known for their smiling good nature, generally take comments about their size in good humour. ?I think people love the fact that we?re natural,? Romeo recently told an interviewer. ?I think we look great as a band,? said Angela, prompting her brother Sean to joke: ?I?ve never looked better.?



Romeo replied: ?I look great when I?m standing next to you guys.?



Signed to EMI, their background is more exotic than the average indie? band. The Stoddarts fled their native Trinidad after a coup and moved to New York before settling in London. The stars of this year?s Glastonbury Festival are 7-1 to win the prestigious Mercury Prize for their eponymous debut album, which went straight into the Top Ten.



Critics have devoted articles to their size. One praised them for ?breaking with convention, without missing a beat?. The band have been compared to the Sixties band, Mamas and the Papas. But it was noted that Mama Cass Elliot, one of the female stars, died from a heart attack, wrongly attributed to choking on a ham sandwich.

How fuckin sad it is when the image overrides the music.



The Magic Numbers were right to walk off stage.

man these guys are really taking england by strom...but i yet to actually listen to anything by them on the radio over here.



Thats a little upsetting that they felt that disgusted to have to walk off the stage. Stupid host.

whirlygirl Escribi�:

How fuckin sad it is when the image overrides the music.

I think its pretty bad these days. I (being sick from stomache poisoning and all :'( ) have had the time to sit at home and watch some of the MTV flim clips and all the rnb videos are all tits and arse. Yeah I know its nothing knew...but there used to be a time when rnb was bearable...I think in the mid-late 90's it was actually quite good...but now theres no catchyness to it at all. Its just all so crap...and it sells...are these people getting brain washed and I just luckily missed out??

kwiddle Escribi�:

are these people getting brain washed and I just luckily missed out??

I've asked myself this question a million times... How can people not be bored by it?!

Fat people shouldn't be on TV, it will just encourage other people to be fat, and no one wants that. ;-)

Sjees, probably they've been bullied all there miserable lives with fat jokes and now they are pulling all the strings for once, they pull a stunt like this. That's no way to get even, fellas. It's just plain sad. You disappointed your fans, and the golden rule is to never disappoint your fans.

I wanna see them do the...

Slipvin Escribi�:

Sjees, probably they've been bullied all there miserable lives with fat jokes and now they are pulling all the strings for once, they pull a stunt like this. That's no way to get even, fellas. It's just plain sad. You disappointed your fans, and the golden rule is to never disappoint your fans.

It's one thing to maybe have been bullied with fat jokes your entire life, it's another when you're being made a national spectacle on public television on account of your weight. Despite the image conscious norm in the music industry, the looks and weight of the band members should be beside the point especially if they are being touted as "natural" and a "breath of fresh air" in the industry.



Fat jokes hurt no matter how long you've endured them. And they probably still hurt no matter how famous you are.



I'm sure the fans of the Magic Numbers were disappointed with the walk-out, but I would hope the fans understood why they did what they did and not fault the band.



The announcer was completely out of line imo, and he wasn't doing his job properly. Perhaps he should go into the business of scouting beautiful yet talentless people for manufactured pop bands instead. Why should the Numbers have to suck it up and be humiliated, just to be on the BBC. By walking out, the band showed that they do have some integrity. My hats off to them, I think they did the right thing, they don't need to put up with that kind of shit.

egil Escribi�:

kwiddle Escribi�:

are these people getting brain washed and I just luckily missed out??

I've asked myself this question a million times... How can people not be bored by it?!

Oh but they all look so cool with their girls and guns and friends and cars and money and jewels!!! Oh they're oh so cool and popular with their clothes they give back once the cameras stop rolling and they wash off their makeup and ab shadows and take off their padded bras and the computer guy airbrushes all their blemishes away and the camera guy packs away all his soft focus lens filters.



Who gives a shit what they sound like?! They could put a fucking chipmunk vocal as the chorus or have a line where they say "shooosh" as the main hook and get away with it cos they're sooooooo cool and sooooo good looking and sooooo popular!



;-)



Kudos to the Magic Numbers! Kudos to them for not letting the host get away with it!

Not only fat jokes hurt.



AL jokes about how you look hurt. No mather if your fat , like the magics , or skinny , like me , or short or tall , nobody has the right so say something about it , cause it's not their body and nobody understand how much it hurts. And i'm not just saying something , i know how it feels. Therefor i think the magics are fucking COOL to walk out off that show , they are right! Don't just take it , but stand up and show that you're not somebody to fuck around with.



AMEN TO THE MAGIC NUMBERS AND A HALLELUJA!

Shut up, skinny! :p

they're stupid they let a dumb commet get the best of them.......if it bothered them that much, deal with the person after your show.......i hate when things get blown out of proportion....time to grow thicker skin

aren't they rich enough to afford blow yet? Someone needs to clue them in about the popstar diet plan.

... and here's 'stash with some drugged up comic relief!

no one watches TOTP anyway, ntional institiution that it is - its just lahndan mediaites being twats - glad they walked off, def wont harmn their career nd richard bacon is a nob anyway