Leslie's Omnibus: Drive-Bys

I've made no secret of the fact that I'm a huge Susan Boyle fan, and as much for her cheeky personality as for her outstanding singing talent.

It was very disappointing to see the British public sour on her so quickly and viciously, so I'm really grateful to Piers Morgan for his vigorous defense of her:

I understand, and broadly agree with, the argument that she had voluntarily entered the competition, had courted the world’s media, and therefore had no right to complain.

All that is true.

But she was still entitled to feel upset and angry about it.

She’d already had to put up with being dubbed ‘Hairy Angel’ and ‘SuBo’ as if she was some Japanese wrestler, mocked relentlessly for her looks and fashion sense and ridiculed for never being kissed.

Now she was being written off as a not-very-good singer, too, by some of the very same people who had until very recently lauded her to the hilltops.

Celebrities joined in the Boyle-baiting.

Lily Allen sneered that she was ‘overrated’, and Craig Revel Horwood (the least known judge on Strictly Come Dancing) said he wanted to ‘smash the TV screen’ when he watched her in the semi-final.

And with every gratuitous insult, so Susan’s self-confidence diminished.

Yes, the Brits like nothing better than taking the piss out of someone. Especially, I think, when it's one of their own who Americans have embraced more enthusiastically than they have.

To my shock and dismay, though, there were a few boos in the audience when I suggested in my critique that she should win the show.

I realised then that she probably wouldn’t win, that the bubble had indeed burst right at the last minute, that the British public – as Simon had feared – had grown a little bored and irritated by Boyle mania.

Piers nails it here:

She’s not some sort of cruelly exploited simpleton, as a few ill-informed critics seem to think.

She’s a smart-witted person (watch some of her American interviews) with a great sense of humour, but also a bit of a short fuse when it comes to people abusing her.

I guess when you’ve been bullied at school like she was, and had yobs chuck stones at your house, you grow less yolerant of that kind of behaviour.

And good for her. Here's hoping that by pursuing her dreams she chucks those stones right back at the yobbos.

The Susan Boyle story is not, as some would have it, a modern-day parable of reality TV disaster, the tale of an innocent victim whose life has been ruined by transient fame.

It’s the story of how one woman from a Scottish village set the whole world alight with the sheer force of her personality and raw, undiscovered talent.

OK, so she was a bit drained by the end of the whole shebang. Who wouldn’t be?

I’m so knackered, I feel like checking myself into the Priory as well.

But without Britain’s Got Talent, Susan Boyle would have probably carried on living alone with her cat in a remote part of Scotland, never knowing if she had what it takes to be a star.

Now she knows the answer. And so does the entire world.

She does.

Damn straight, she does. Send her over here. I'll be one of the first in line to go see her.

_____

If you grew up in the Chicago area, you couldn't wait to get home after school, flip on the TV and watch B.J. and Dirty Dragon, Cartoontown and the Gigglesnort Hotel.

Good news! Bill Jackson has completed and released a documentary, available here, that you can enjoy on your own or share with your kids!

Here's a little taste: