From today’s Virgin Media homepage:
Just in case you can’t read the text, next to the picture of Rihanna and Chris Brown and under the heading Good girls who like bad boys it says:
What is it about bad boys that makes good girls go crazy? We look at the celebs who like a bit of rough.
When you click through to the photo gallery, the next page contains this gem:
There are many women who seem all too willing to overlook the character flaws and stick with men most girls wouldn’t give directions to. We take a look at the culprits of our theory.
Just to clarify, by culprits Virgin are not referring to abusive men, but to the women who stick with them despite their “character flaws”.
Following on from the photo gallery of celebrity women culprits, there’s then a series entitled “Bad girls” and “Bad boys.”
And who features in Bad boys? None other than that big ole bad boy himself, O.J. Simpson.
Do you know what? I can think of a lot of ways to describe O.J. but bad boy isn’t one of them.
I’ve emailed in a complaint about this feature to Virgin, as have others, pointing out that it trivialises domestic violence and violence against women in general, and I’m waiting to see how they respond.
In the meantime, unless I’m missing something, it looks as though the offending piece has been taken down. If so, well done Virgin for acting so fast.
But in future, how about not posting shite like this in the first place?
Too Much To Say For Myself 
Not sure what robbing a shady, male sports memorabilia dealer has to do with violence against women, but heigh ho…
You can sort of see what they might have been aiming for, but it’s atrociously worded and presented, and I’m glad to see it’s been taken down very swiftly. Kudos to you.
john b – some arguments can certainly be won on technicalities, but the real question is whether they’re worth having.
There are many ways I can think of to describe assaulting someone. ‘Character flaw’ isn’t one of them. A character flaw something like being a bit self obsessed, or always late……
Here’s the link to O.J’s bad boy profile
http://dev.livingtv.dev.synacor.com/celebrity/starsnaps/celebrity-mugshots-bad-boys.php?ssid=3
So it would appear that even though Virgin have removed the front-page, the rest of the gallery remains on the web.
Well John B, since Nicole Brown’s family won a wrongful death civil suit against OJ Simpson you could say he caused her death without fear of being sued for libel. And since she was murdered that counts as violence. Agreed there was not sufficient evidence presented in a criminal court to convict beyond a reasonable doubt, but that was quite possibly because of the incompetence of the investigating police (cf Michael Barrymore).
However there is no question that Simpson DID assault his ex wife on at least one occasion, because he pleaded no contest to a charge of domestic violence.
I’m a bit tardy with this, but just to update this post, I received a response from the Virgin Media Press Office:
OMG, have you read this?
http://www.livenews.com.au/Articles/2009/03/10/Rihanna_and_Chris_Brown_are_recording_a_duet
Yes, a bit of a shock to be planning to record a duet a week or two after being attacked by him, but the real shock was this:
Chris’ lawyers are reportedly claiming Rihanna was also aggressive during the alleged altercation, which could mean Chris’ crime wasn’t a felony.
Rihanna reportedly started the fight after reading a three-page text message Chris had received from another woman, and also fought back when he was reportedly punching and biting her.
[…]
It has also been suggested Chris sent a text message to Rihanna’s assistant shortly after the incident apologising for his behaviour and stating he would be seeking help. If true, the message would be admissible in court as evidence.
Fighting back / defending onesself from attack reduces HIS culpability? FFS.
I put the last par in for damagedoor 😛
Actually DD, it is a common misconception that these guys “just lose control” because they usually manage to keep their rage under control in public places. Ain’t it strange these dudes never “lose it” in front of a cop?