HOW THE SF COMMUNITY SHOT ITSELF IN ITS OWN FOOT

Jonathan Ross and his wife Jane Goldman, a former Hugo Award winner. Photo: Getty

Over the weekend all hell was let loose when it was announced that Jonathan Ross would host the Hugo awards at the World SF Convention in London later this year. The vitriol from those protesting on twitter, facebook and elsewhere about him was some of the worst I have ever seen. A lot seemed to come from people who had never heard of him before (mainly from the US) and had simply googled or been passed on information about him from sources obsessed with every real or imagined slip he had ever made. You would have thought he was Bernard Manning with tourettes. It was so bad I felt ashamed that the offer he made to host these awards gratis was turned into a hate-fest against him by people who really should have known better.

An article, with interviews, in the New Statesman helps to highlight and set straight some of the bizarre behaviour by science fiction fans who well and truly showed themselves up.