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Jimmy Carr Holocaust ‘joke’

195 replies

PurpleParrotfish · 04/02/2022 17:46

Just seen this on Twitter.
'”No one ever wants to talk about the thousands of Gypsies killed by the Nazis, because no one wants to talk about the positives”
twitter.com/jrc1921/status/1489586961656516608?s=21
That would be the slaughter of hundreds of thousands of Romany and Gypsies in death camps, maybe up to 1.5 million. Fucking hilarious.

OP posts:
Tlollj · 05/02/2022 06:12

Jimmy Carr is one of my favourites although I prefer him on panel shows or hosting rather than stand up. His book is a real eye opener. Very interesting complex man.

Jackofallsorts · 05/02/2022 06:27

A joke is it? Go on then, explain in what way it's amusing to you?
^
I never said I found it funny or amusing. And I don't get to decide what's a funny joke.
^
But the comedian was clearly making a joke and therefore the context makes a difference.

People can legitimately be offended but that's their business.

Paleotrendy · 05/02/2022 06:39

If he’d put in “pederasts” instead of gypsies, I admit I’d not be offended.

TrufflesAndToast · 05/02/2022 06:51

I wonder what his TV colleague Rachel Riley will make of this. She’s a proud Jewish woman who I can’t imagine appreciating a ‘joke’ at the expense of Holocaust victims.

MarshaBradyo · 05/02/2022 07:04

I only know him from panel stuff I didn’t realise his gig was doing this offensive stuff

As pp put this stuff is aimed at more vulnerable groups - women, children, minorities it’s not great humour and we always have to just put up with it

Ylvamoon · 05/02/2022 07:21

His comment is not a joke for sure.

It can be classed as a offensive.

BUT it got us talking / thinking about other groups that were victims of the holocaust.

saturdayhelicopter · 05/02/2022 07:22

Well it's just not funny is it. I think you get to a point and people are doing a kind of horrified laugh as in 'he dared say that'.

I bloody hope so anyway, because the thought that people find that sort of shite funny is a bit unbearable.

GeneLovesJezebel · 05/02/2022 07:24

I don’t watch him as there is something about him that makes me uncomfortable.

ufucoffee · 05/02/2022 07:27

It's meant to be offensive. It's what he does. Not my cup of tea and I switched off his Netflix show after about 10 minutes because I wasn't laughing but I'd defend his right to say it.

AlternativePerspective · 05/02/2022 07:30

Humour is subjective though.

Personally I can’t bear the man and would go out of my way not to watch him and many others like him.

But the instant we start sensoring what people are allowed to find funny we get closer to being those who are being sensored.

I have 0 doubt that every single one of us would find something funny which someone else doesn’t. Where do we draw the line at what is allowed and what isn’t.

The Holocaust is an easy one to weed out because most people would find that offensive. But there are others which aren’t e.g. jokes about gay people, not offensive ones per se but e.g. the episodes of Frasier where they are pursued by men thinking they were gay and such. It’s comedy gold, and yet I have little doubt that the lgbt community would probably be up in arms about it and want Frasier cancelled 20 years on.

Who gets to decide what is funny to someone else and what isn’t?

We can step away from the joke ourselves, not engage with it and have a view on it. But the instant you start dictating what someone else is allowed and not allowed to think you’re treading a fine line.

GrammarTeacher · 05/02/2022 07:42

People have the right to free speech. They don't have the right to an audience.
He's meant to be a comedian. What exactly was funny about that comment?
It's only funny if you're racist.
Jimmy Carr isn't funny. He's offensive. Therefore I don't watch him or anything he's in.

TheAverageUser · 05/02/2022 07:45

It was a joke and rather than censoring speech surely it's left to the masses to decide what's funny.

People find him funny because he's hugely popular. If he generally is not considered funny or the majority find him too offensive he won't keep appearing on Netflix etc...it's a consumers market.

CFSKate · 05/02/2022 08:10

@FFSFFSFFS - Gervais jokes about ME sufferers were cruel and unhelpful.

sairiegamp · 05/02/2022 08:15

The people to object to are the morons who laughed at it. Can you not see that Carr is fundamentally laughing at his audience laughing at "jokes" that are cruel, bigoted and vicious? And the people who pay money to be so entertained? That "you" weren't there and don't find him funny is irrelevant to him - there were hundreds/thousands there who paid him money because they knew he would tell "unacceptable" jokes. The audience is the horror, not Carr

DGRossetti · 05/02/2022 08:17

Is the reporting that this show was released in December 2021 correct ?

RandomDent · 05/02/2022 08:33

I watched it at Christmas.

Sunflowersinthewind · 05/02/2022 08:38

I thought the point of the "joke" was to highlight that racism and the lesser known facts about the other victims of the holocaust? Well I took it that way, not because he really thinks genocide is funny.

DGRossetti · 05/02/2022 08:47

@RandomDent

I watched it at Christmas.
So the real joke is it took so long for people to understand it Hmm
cakeorwine · 05/02/2022 08:51

@Sunflowersinthewind

I thought the point of the "joke" was to highlight that racism and the lesser known facts about the other victims of the holocaust? Well I took it that way, not because he really thinks genocide is funny.
It's a shame that people need a 'joke' like this instead of actually knowing about the other groups or being educated in some other way.

Did it need wording that way?

Many people don't know about the other groups who were murdered by the Nazis. Those groups still face hate.

Quantity5 · 05/02/2022 08:52

Yeah sunflowers - I think the target is the audience who largely tolerate racism against certain groups.

riotlady · 05/02/2022 08:53

The people complaining about “cancel culture” and “free speech”- what are you concerned is going to happen? Because people complaining about him and refusing to watch or work with him is in no way an impingement on his free speech. He can say what he likes but he’s not owed a public platform to say it on

ancientgran · 05/02/2022 09:08

I thought the point of a joke was that it was funny.

Fetchthevet · 05/02/2022 09:17

@TrufflesAndToast

I wonder what his TV colleague Rachel Riley will make of this. She’s a proud Jewish woman who I can’t imagine appreciating a ‘joke’ at the expense of Holocaust victims.
I would hope she's intelligent enough to realise what a joke is. He was not making a statement. It was a joke, therefore not meant to be taken seriously. His show is called His Dark Material. It is dark / black humour. It's not everyone's cup of tea, I understand that, but it is meant as a joke, not a statement of fact.
PuppyMonkey · 05/02/2022 09:20

So he can get away with saying whatever offensive thing he wants because it’s in a section called “career ending jokes” and it’s just him being post modern and ironic?Hmm

I just find it weird that a thought like that joke would even enter his head tbh.Confused

SnottyLottie · 05/02/2022 09:31

When I originally watched it I always assumed he was making a subtle dig at society. I think everyone is aware of the Jewish victims of the holocaust but not other minorities, particularly gypsies. And why is that? Because there is still a stigma of gypsies being ‘pests’ in our society. Therefore a small minority would see it as a positive.

Whilst it was a shocking joke I felt he was highlighting that gypsies are the only minority group who it’s ‘socially acceptable’ to be racist towards. Maybe I’m overthinking it and that’s not what he was going for but that’s how I originally interpreted it.

Either way I think it’s important to highlight the persecution of gypsies. In the past decade I can remember several comedians making anti gypsy jokes.