When you’re a comedian, anything is game and up for ridicule at the expense of a few cheap laughs. Including handicapped children, it seems.
The comic Jimmy Carr has been in the news these past few days for making a quip about children with Down’s syndrome children and how they “all look the f****ng same.”
Now I’m all for freedom of speech and am the first to complain at how political correctness has gone mad, but how is that even funny?
It’s like a while back when Jordan’s little boy Harvey was poked fun at in the media. Now, say what you like about Jordan, she’s old enough and daft enough to be able to take it, and regularly puts herself into the media spotlight.
To bring her disabled child into it though was bang out of order. What did he ever do? He’s an innocent.
Jokes are all well and good, and I love a laugh, but since when did handicapped and disabled children ask to be figures of fun?
If people see others ridiculing the handicapped, disabled and people generally different to others in mainstream media, then surely that is giving the green light for bullies to justify their behaviour and act the same?
It says a lot about your skills as a comedian if you have to resort to cheap shots at vulnerable members of the public in order to gain attention and a few laughs thrown your way.
Learn from the likes of Peter Kay who resort to observational humour and nostalgia to raise a few giggles. Not attack the vulnerable in order to raise titters.
I agree.
If he were to make that joke about black people, or Asian people, there would be an outcry and he would be off the air before you could blink.
Can you imagine the reaction if the joke about Harvey had poked fun at his skin colour rather than his disability?
Why are jokes at the expense of children with DS acceptable while jokes at the expense of racial minorities are not?
I completely agree. It seems like you can say as many jokes as you like about handicapped children, but if the colour of their skin came into the equation there would be an outcry.
Both would be completely unacceptable, so why is it you can take cheap shots at the disabled but not their skin colour?
Both should be out of bounds when it comes to jokes.
There are lots of things that comedians “joke” about that I think are pretty disgusting and should never be joked about, I don’t see how some topics are in the slightest bit funny and how they get away with it is beyond me :/
I’ve never been a fan of jimmy Carr but he’s gone a step too far
This is the first I’d heard of this and I’m so disgusted I don’t even know what to say. You’ve got to be a pretty crappy comedian (and person period) to start looking to disabled kids for your material.