For several months now, the UK has been transfixed by a mysterious man who crashed dozens of live TV news broadcasts on the likes of the BBC, Al Jazeera, Channel 4, and Sky News. Until recently anonymous, the man has been unmasked as Paul Yarrow, a 38-year-old caretaker from south London. Despite appearing on as many news shows as he has, Yarrow’s motives have been a mystery, until now:
Yarrow, who BBC comedian Russell Howard identified as the “fat guy who just wants to get on TV” in a video compilation of his appearances (below), explained to the London Evening Standard that as an overweight man, he was making a statement about the “image-conscious media.” Yarrow, who said he was upset by his treatment as a “comedy character” by Howard and the BBC, elaborate:
It is a statement about the image conscious media. I am overweight and people like me are treated as unsightly because of the way they look.
He added: ‘Here I am. I am sorry I don’t have a suit and that I am not lovely and slim. Being overweight I get ignored. I could have a valid point about something but the microphone is always passed to the person alongside me.
The point I am making is that the more you push me aside, the more I’m going to be determined to make my presence known.
The video compilation in question:
Alas, Yarrow’s guerilla fame means he may retire from the spotlight; though he’s become a local celebrity and says strangers ask to take photos with him, he is “unlikely to continue his campaign because of all the attention.”
(via Evening Standard; FidgetWith via Gawker via Asylum)
