Guy Kewney speaks....shouldn't have bothered

"And the fact that a few hundred thousand people in the world are now under the impression that I'm an ignoramus who knows nothing about technology or Apple or iPods, and has a very poor command of English? - well, that's not the Beeb's problem, is it?" (Guy Kewney)

Whoops.

In a follow up from the previous Apple-debate-on-BBC goes wrong story, the real Guy Kewney blogged about his experience and comes off a bit, well, have a look for yourself.

Is it just me, or does he strike you as a touch insulting?

"But the unworthy thought does persist that perhaps, those producers don't care much about the fact that my reputation was completely shredded by the way they put up an ignoramus and claimed he was me".

Okay, scrub that. Replace "touch insulting" with "arrogant, humourless little man" and you have something more accurate.

I think he calls the poor dude who ended up in the BBC studio an ignoramus about four times, and repeatedly makes wink-wink references to the fact that someone should have noticed the fact that the real Guy Kewney wasn't a large black man, but in fact a skinny white guy with a beard.

"But let's admit it: of all the things you can say about me, one word that really has to be deleted from the list is this one: "Black." We're talking biometrics, here. We're talking about "twins separated at birth, only their mother could tell them apart"... NOT!"

Well sorry mate, I think people need to know who you are first for that to happen.

Elsewhere, he rambles on about how his reputation has been shattered forever. At least, that's what you'd think he was going on about:

"After all, is a journalist going to sue the BBC and get blacklisted? Of course not! So, if I'm not going to sue, who cares how unhappy I am?"

Wait, we're talking about suing? For what, exactly? Considering the story only gained worldwide coverage precisely because there had been an identity mixup, and everybody was clearly referring to it as such, how on Earth can you say that "hundreds of thousands" of people are now walking round thinking you're the wrong guy? If the interview had gone as planned, nobody would have cared anyway. Oh look on the telly, some guy rambling about Apple/ITunes/Beatles...zzzzzz.

And with an attitude like that, maybe it's entirely fitting that you'll be forever known as Guy Goma (turns out he isn't a taxi driver, either. Surprise surprise. Why did the press immediately assume he was a cabbie?) For what it's worth, I think Guy Kewney should've kept his mouth shut - the whole thing comes across as a mealy-mouthed rant against his unfortunate "replacement", even if that wasn't the original intention. How exactly does calling the hottest star on the Interweb - this guy - an "Ignoramus" endear you to the hearts of Joe Public?

Oh look - it doesn't.

As one poster said:

"I can't believe you fell as low as to pick on the guy's accent. And you're supposed to be one of the top technological experts in the UK. I sincerely hope that international expert IT community gets the message. You're playing with fire here, mister. I'm sure you will get plenty of publicity, but not the kind of publicity that you desire. Blame nobody but yourself when you see your photo floating around the Internet, with "Arrogant D*******" under it."

Ouch. There are also allegations in that huge pile of posts that Kewney "altered" or replaced an original blog entry that was reputedly a lot more harsh on Guy Goma. If anyone has a copy of that, I'd love to see it. Either way:

A brilliant example of how not to milk some unexpected publicity.