Producer Amy moving to Radio 1 Breakfast

[Jono]

It seems the Sunday Times are up on their high horse today worrying about a line Judge Jules used when sitting in for Pete Tong last week.

... What the station needs to do now is consider the acceptability of its 12-hour dance-music marathon, which runs from 7pm on Friday to 7am on Saturday. It offers “piping-hot tunes”, “hot mixes” and “remixes”, the sort of hypnotic music that people listen to when they go clubbing.

Normally, it is launched by Pete Tong. Sixteen days ago, however, Tong was in Brazil, at the Rio carnival, so Judge Jules sat in for him. At 7.20pm, after one track, he told his young audience: “The last time I heard that, I was chewing my face off in a field in the early Nineties.”

For those unfamiliar with this phrase, “chewing my face off” is almost certain to be a reference to the taking of ecstasy, the drug indelibly associated with clubbing. This is because it is famous for producing involuntary teeth-clenching and frenzied jaw movements (“One of the signs of ecstasy use is the possession of a baby’s dummy to relieve jaw pains,” the BBC’s website explains, pointing out that it is also linked to liver damage and acne). Some music fans may also recall the phrase on the opening track of the Darkness’s 2005 album, One Way Ticket to Hell, which includes the lyrics “ . . . chewing my face off and talking absolute rubbish”.

Ecstasy use is something Judge Jules seems to know all about. He has a house in Ibiza, where he has worked as a DJ for years and which he once described as “the party capital of the world”. Its hospitals treat more overdose victims than anywhere else and, in the summer, it is said that 40,000 ecstasy tablets are consumed each night. It was in Ibiza that Judge Jules made clear his shoulder-shrugging attitude. “There’s no point in me as a spokesperson saying ‘Don’t take too many Es’, because people will,” he once told BBC News. “Keep it at experimentation.”

There is something grotesque about a high-profile Radio 1 presenter using his position to make a comment that appears to make light of its use – especially at a time when 243,000 children are listening. Judge Jules is a 42-year-old LSE law graduate. His real name is Julius O’Riordan and, as it happens, he’s the nephew of Rick Stein. He should know better.

The BBC agrees with this. A spokesman for Radio 1 said: “The producer of the show spoke to Judge Jules after the broadcast and made it clear that this was an inappropriate comment to make.” Quite right too. Next time, he should get the chop.

http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/tv_and_radio/article3365445.ece

So does a drugs reference really concern you? For me, no. It's a show about music and at the end of the day only the "big kids" are going to take a liking to something like that. It's not about what is said, it's about the music. If Mills or Moyles had said then sure there might be concern, but I don't see the problem with this.

[KingTutsWWH]

What a load of nonsense.

The Sunday Times have taken an off the cuff remark, and blown it out of proportion - thereby attracting even more attention to it.

Moyles, Mills and their teams never stop going on about their alcohol consumption. Should they get 'the chop' too?

[Jono]

Let's not forget these DJs are renowned for their sayings like this. Where would we be without "roll another fat one, Dave".

[E*F*4L]

everyone knows that some people in clubs take drugs, he is not condoning taking drugs and the way the paragraph four is worded,

"Ecstasy use is something Judge Jules seems to know all about. He has a house in Ibiza, where he has worked as a DJ for years and which he once described as “the party capital of the world”. Its hospitals treat more overdose victims than anywhere else and, in the summer, it is said that 40,000 ecstasy tablets are consumed each night. It was in Ibiza that Judge Jules made clear his shoulder-shrugging attitude. “There’s no point in me as a spokesperson saying ‘Don’t take too many Es’, because people will,” he once told BBC News. “Keep it at experimentation.”"

are they trying to say that he is a dealer, because that is the way it could be read, i think he should take legal advice & maybe he could sue for slander !

[sinister]

Ambiguous comment, he could have meant he was talking, as some one already pointed out the ambiguity in the term roll another fat one. Slow news day? or just lazy journos?

[DC]

it's just some peoples general bias against dance music stepping in once again i think. there are many dj's in the industry who take drugs, or some who have taken them in the past. it would suprise you. there are more important things to worry about than nitpicking the judges' quick whitted comments. i have read many interviews with jules (who is one of my fave house dj's) , and his views on drugs are sensible. he knows that some people will take them, so he knows trying to tell them not to isn't going to work. all he is saying really is be carefull, and don't over-do it. why try and say things to please newspapers like the sunday times?

[phoenix]

Judge Jules is 42? Wow, I was thinking mid-thirties. He looks younger.

Yeah, I heard that, and I wondered, is he allowed to say that?

drug references on Radio 1....nice!

[Jono]

Judge Jules has mentioned it in his blog.

If the weekend had been frustrating up to that point, things took a turn for the worse on Sunday. The Sunday Times picked up on an on-air comment I’d made whilst sitting in for Pete Tong on Radio 1 two weeks earlier. Whilst playing a track by vintage hip-house act Doug Lazy I said “I haven’t heard of him since I was chewing my face off in a field in the early nineties”. It was an off-the-cuff remark that wasn’t intended to be a drug reference. It was meant to be a jovial generic comment on the rave culture of that time. In retrospect I absolutely accept that it wasn’t the right thing to say, but little did I expect any form of backlash in the shape of a half page piece in the ‘Culture’ section of the Sunday Times.

I’ve never intentionally made light of drug use, and where possible have used my position to advise against the binge culture that’s so prevalent in the UK and Northern Europe, helping to put together a charity with this goal a few years back. As someone who plays more than 200 club and festival gigs per year I would never bury my head in the sand and deny the presence of drug taking and binge-like behaviour as a whole. However, I believe that my platform is best used to encourage moderation and caution. I regret what I said on Radio 1, but at the same time it’s very unfair to portray me as a reckless individual who doesn’t care deeply about the issues affecting the community I’m involved with. I care enormously.

http://www.judgejules.net/index.php?page=2

[DC]

they should leave it out now, there have been worse things said on radio 1. i forget how good his blog is sometimes, i remember the one where he lost it with some knob when he was dj'ing somewhere and hit him.

[dstrkzn]

Jail him for 4 Years! Or Get over it. When Ben Shepard starts snorting cocaine off Fiona Phillips during the weather on GMTV thats the time to start complaining.

Comments like his aren't going to have any effect on anything.

[sinister]

Jail him for 4 Years! Or Get over it. When Ben Shepard starts snorting cocaine off Fiona Phillips during the weather on GMTV thats the time to start complaining.

Comments like his aren't going to have any effect on anything.

That I'd pay to see:D

[iain_smith]

Judge Jukes would have been fired,but now that Grooveriders in jail we need the staff....

[DC]

two completley different types of music you tit.

[iain_smith]

two completley different types of music you tit.

it sounds very similar to me.Fast dancy type stuff.I never listen myself.

[DC]

that's your view i'm afraid, and as far as i can tell it dosen't make much impact on things.

[sebdevlin]

Judge Jukes would have been fired,but now that Grooveriders in jail we need the staff....

*Yawn* Find a similar cliff to the one below and throw yourself off it please so I don't have to read anymore of your utterly inane pointless posts or maybe on the off chance try to say something interesting, although I think Carlisle Utd will have won the Premiership & FA cup double before this happens.