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Outbyte PC Repair FREERepair Windows errors before they cause bigger problemsFix Now →Outbyte Driver Updater FREEFix the driver behind crashes, sound loss and screen glitchesFind Drivers →Grace Jones struck talk-show host Russell Harty during a live appearance on The Russell Harty Show after he turned his attention to another guest. Jones later said she was seriously upset at being ignored, denied that the outburst was staged, and recalled both damage to her career and a boost to her notoriety. A dated episode listing places the broadcast on 18 November 1980, although some later accounts give 1981.
What happened on The Russell Harty Show?
During a live broadcast, Harty shifted his attention away from Jones to ask another guest about perfume. BBC Music’s retrospective says Jones then struck him on the shoulder; Dazed describes her protesting as Harty turned his back and hitting his shoulder repeatedly. The episode listing names Jones alongside Patrick Lichfield, Tom Gilbey and Walter Poucher.
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The dated listing places the episode on 18 November 1980. It is a third-party transcript index rather than a BBC archive page, and retrospective coverage is inconsistent: BBC Music and The New Yorker describe the incident as happening in 1980, while two Guardian articles give 1981. The most specific dated listing supports 18 November 1980, but the discrepancy is worth noting.
Why did Grace Jones hit Russell Harty?
In an account from her memoir excerpted by Dazed, Jones said the live setup differed from rehearsal. She recalled expecting to sit beside Harty, stay still and quiet, and feeling uncomfortable when he ignored her; she said she felt treated like hired help. Dazed also reports that Jones wrote she was unwell and had taken cocaine she considered bad. Those details are Jones’s memoir account, not independently established explanations for her actions.
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In a 2015 Guardian interview, Jones described her reaction this way: “I still laugh about that, but I was seriously upset by him ignoring me. What I really wanted to do was tilt him over in his chair. But I thought, you’re gonna end up in jail, you’re gonna break his neck, you’re gonna kill him on air!”
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.What did Jones say about the incident later?
Her 2010 account: not an act
In a 2010 Guardian interview, Jones rejected the suggestion she had been performing for the cameras: “No, I wasn’t acting. Absolutely not.” She said Harty did not apologise and wanted her back on the show for ratings. Jones recalled that the incident initially hurt her career, with her record company and others distancing themselves, but increased her notoriety; she said the response shifted after press coverage became more positive. These are Jones’s recollections of the industry’s reaction.
Rank #2
- vinyl album/LP (12" size)
- released 2013 in Europe by Universal (00600753454558)
- Genre: Pop- New Wave / 1980s Pop
- limited edition
Her memoir and 2015 interview
Jones’s memoir, I’ll Never Write My Memoirs, published by Simon & Schuster on 24 September 2015, recounts the incident. In a Guardian interview that year, she spoke of being seriously upset by Harty’s inattention and said she had considered tipping him out of his chair before imagining the consequences.
A humorous retelling in a documentary
Jones returned to the story in Sophie Fiennes’s documentary Grace Jones: Bloodlight and Bami. In a backstage retelling described by The New Yorker, she joked: “I don’t mind Russell, except the fact that he died—but I didn’t kill him!” The reviewer notes that the film does not cut to archival footage during this anecdote.
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