Why Corrie shouldn’t have fired The Fountain Menace for his bad rap

Why Corrie shouldn’t have fired The Fountain Menace for his bad rap

Ok, before you start lynching me, I’m not condoning what his ‘raps’ were about. The subject matter and language were totally unacceptable (not to mention the tenuous rhymes, which personally offended me.) But did he deserve to lose his job over the whole Phantom thing? I really don’t think so. Here’s why.

1. Ill-advised lyrics and bad rapping isn’t a crime

Yes, it was a pretty stupid move on Fountain’s part, but is bad and offensive rapping really that terrible? If it were, a large percentage of the British music scene would never have existed. And Dappy would currently be doing hard time. With no parole.

2. Fountain is a bit of a doughnut

I’ve interviewed him a few times and at no point did I think he was evil incarnate. In fact, I just thought he was a typical boy, someone you could’ve gone to school with. Someone who was probably in the lower sets. And being in Corrie, getting to snog Michelle Keegan on a regular basis, is probably as good as it’s going to get for him. He’s not about to be bothering Hollywood (or the charts, lets be honest) anytime soon, that’s for sure.

Chris was very comfortable in sequins during his time on Dancing on ice

 

3. No one had actually seen the videos

Let’s be honest here â€" Rebecca Black style You Tube phenomenon, he ain’t. Had anyone heard of The Phantom before last week? Show of hands please. And how many have now? How many of you have Googled them since the story broke. Exactly. Corrie could have slapped him on the wrists after his apology and all would have been forgotten. (If you still haven't seen it, be our guest).

 

4. Can Corrie really lose any more cast members?

With both Kev and Ken on, ahem, leave from the soap, Weatherfield is going to have to have to create it’s own Bermuda Triangle if any more characters disappear without so much as a ‘I’ll be drinking in The Flying Horse’

5. He’s young

 He’s 25, for goodness sake; the videos were made over a year ago. Who hasn’t done something a bit regretful when they were 24? Admittedly, most of us don’t feel the need to post our biggest mistakes on YouTube. But if everyone got fired for doing something daft when they were still basically on an apprenticeship, unemployment would be a lot higher than it is.

Satire or just bad taste?

 

6. Surely it was some kind of parody?

I find it hard to believe that ‘rap’ at this level of terrible could be a serious attempt at the genre. Maybe I’ve underestimated Chris and he was actually taking a satirical sideswipe at some of the misguided ‘gangsta’ rappers out there, who really do rap about bitches, hoes and the like. Maybe.

7. His mum will probably ground him anyway

And that, with the ear-bashing that comes with it, is punishment enough.