When approached by the ASA, she offered to change the wording to "BMW
batty boy", but was told it was "equally offensive for the same reason".
"We acknowledged Ling's Cars suggested change of wording to 'BMW
batty boy', but considered that was not significantly different to the original term and was equally offensive for the same reason."
The expression "
batty boy" is a derogatory Jamaican term for a homosexual.
"It was mainly young guys shouting out '
batty boy' and things like that "It was nothing I hadn't heard before and I dealt with it in the way I would on the street.
"The bloke was shouting, 'Don't talk to him, he is a
batty boy.' (offensive Jamaican term for a homosexual).
I couldn't help but be a little disturbed by this
batty boy. What was he playing at?
One guy who was Jamaican called me a
batty boy." (Sway later got flak for his on air behavior and, says Williams, almost got fired from Hot 97.) Williams--whose credits include Martin Scorsese's Bringing Out the Dead and lead roles in episodes of Law & Order and The Sopranos--remains philosophical about the response to his character.
"I asked you a f***ing question,
batty boy, answer me!" he shouted, but I couldn't speak.
But he's perhaps most proud of his RTS award-winning documentary for Channel 4 about homophobia in Jamaica called
Batty Boy.
The star of the show had been a
Batty boy - young Jonathan scored 84 not out and took three catches.
Why didn't they just call it "Sir Cliff Richard -
Batty Boy or What?".