Bee Gee Robin Gibb yesterday used an interview on ITV's This Morning to launch a furious attack on Graham Norton after the Channel 4 host's comments on the day of the death of brother Maurice that his life support machine was probably beeping to the tune of 'Staying Alive'. Robin told presenter Philip Schofield that he would "rip his head off" if he ever bumped in to Norton on the media circuit.
"Some very nasty things were said and I want to get them off my chest," he said, "in particular Graham Norton, who I used to respect and who I now detest and I think he's scum. I want an apology from Channel 4, the producers of Graham Norton and Graham Norton himself, because he chose to say it. He went on his TV show while my brother was dying in hospital and he said really repugnant and repulsive things about my brother's death process, which even today I still find it hard to recover from. This man I will never forgive. It's a small industry and he should hope that he never crosses paths with me because I will rip his head off if I see him."
Responding Channel 4 said: "Graham Norton's monologue in V Graham Norton satirises the day's news in his own inimitable way. At the start of the monologue Graham did refer to Maurice Gibb's death as sad news. Graham fully intended this item to be an affectionate reference to the Bee Gees unique and distinctive style of music, and not in any way mocking of his death. There was no intention to cause any offence to the Gibb family and we're genuinely sorry that the comments have caused them upset."
Norton himself said in a statment: "I did apologise to the family when the issue first arose and I'm very sorry that this apology did not reach the family at the time."