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Jimmy Carr

198 replies

cavalierkingc · 08/02/2022 13:52

You might of seen outrage about Jimmy Carr joking about the Gypsies that were killed in the holocaust .
Ive seen lots comments calling people 'snowflakes' for being offended.
Aibu to think if it was the other way around and he said that it was a positive the Jewish people were killed nobody would dare say 'just don't watch it then if you font like it.'
I don't believe we should ignore racist 'jokes' like this. Or they never end.

If you didn't see it, he joked that people don't talk about the positives of the Holocaust.
Thousands of people died!

OP posts:
HelloFrostyMorning · 08/02/2022 15:05

*AS an excuse, (not has) FFS.

BobbyeinArkansas · 08/02/2022 15:08

I find the every increasing threat of cancel culture and censorship terrifying.
Of course Jimmy Carr's joke was extremely distastful. However someone on twitter raised a very good point earlier; Jimmy Carr has joked about rape and abuse in the past so who are those that are offended by distasteful gypsy jokes not offended by raping women jokes?
We weren't born with an automatic right not to be offended. If you don't like it, don't watch it. Complain to the regulator. But censorship is certainly not the hill I want to die on.

BattenbergdowntheHatches · 08/02/2022 15:10

This reply has been withdrawn

Message from MNHQ: This post has been withdrawn

DrSbaitso · 08/02/2022 15:12

Jimmy Carr has joked about rape and abuse in the past so who are those that are offended by distasteful gypsy jokes not offended by raping women jokes?

No, I'm offended by those too. I just don't tend to hear about them because I do what you're supposed to do when you think someone is a puffed up, unfunny, offensive pissant - not watch.

There's always a way to make it acceptable, and it's usually glorying in how unacceptable it is. But there's supposed to be an unwritten rule in comedy to punch up. Why wouldn't you? Like the people in power aren't giving you fodder?

Sittingonabench · 08/02/2022 15:14

Not a massive fan of him and his jokes aren’t really to my taste but I do think a lot of this can be taken out of context. He was making a point that black comedy is becoming forbidden, everything is being sanitised - including history and it is detrimental to society. On those points I agree with him. And I do think people should be offended by some things and crossing that line reminds people of what is acceptable and what isn’t. It does have a place even if it’s to say - that’s going too far.

DrSbaitso · 08/02/2022 15:18

If his intention was to show up how acceptable people find anti-Gypsy sentiments, it seems to have backfired. He's getting blowback for it, and it's not as if anyone expects good taste from him, so he's really exceeded our low expectations.

How he can think his brand of comedy is being silenced when he's a global star is beyond me...

neverbeenskiing · 08/02/2022 15:20

I turned his Netflix special off halfway through, not because I was offended, but because I was bored. There was nothing new, interesting or inventive about any of it.
It's the smugness that I find really off-putting, he was clearly so pleased with himself for being 'edgy' but there's nothing shocking or brave about mocking an already oppressed minority group. Nor is it shocking or brave to joke about rape (which seems to be his favourite subject) in a country where conviction rates are so low that rape is practically de-criminalised.
It's lazy and he's been doing the same tired stuff for years now, yet for some reason people keep lapping it up.

BellatricksStrange · 08/02/2022 15:20

@cavalierkingc

You might of seen outrage about Jimmy Carr joking about the Gypsies that were killed in the holocaust . Ive seen lots comments calling people 'snowflakes' for being offended. Aibu to think if it was the other way around and he said that it was a positive the Jewish people were killed nobody would dare say 'just don't watch it then if you font like it.' I don't believe we should ignore racist 'jokes' like this. Or they never end.

If you didn't see it, he joked that people don't talk about the positives of the Holocaust.
Thousands of people died!

I've thought about that myself. While I quite like Jimmy Carr, and I know in advance there will be offensive jokes, this one didn't quite sit right with me. I mean the exact same joke could have been worded as the killing of gypsies being the atrocity and killing of Jews the positive - pretty sure it wouldn't have been very funny at all in that case.

But then again, would so many audience members have laughed if the joke was reversed? So does this tell us more about Jimmy Carr or about the ingrained prejudices in the public at large?

(There is a larger discussion, which is controversial and for some people even mentioning anything about it will be offensive, and that is whether all stereotypes are equally false. If there is a stereotype about community X that they have Y negative trait, yet by and large it's true, is it wrong to mention it?)

DrSbaitso · 08/02/2022 15:22

Ultimately, humour is a weapon. Be careful where you point it.

FourTeaFallOut · 08/02/2022 15:23

Meanwhile, there was another programme on television last night, sticking an uninvited lens into the lives of gypsies like they were off to the zoo to have a look at the animals. But no fucks given by the conspicuously offended.

neverbeenskiing · 08/02/2022 15:24

Just tut and switch it off

I don't think people who belong to the communities who's trauma he's mocking should be expected to "just tut and switch it off" though. If he's entirely to say it, they're entitled to express, to him and those laughing along with him, that they find it offensive and why.

DrSbaitso · 08/02/2022 15:25

@FourTeaFallOut

Meanwhile, there was another programme on television last night, sticking an uninvited lens into the lives of gypsies like they were off to the zoo to have a look at the animals. But no fucks given by the conspicuously offended.
Love a bit of whataboutery. I could compile a bloody brick of documents about the things that didn't offend you yesterday.

But sorry, didn't see or hear about that one. I'd need to watch it before I took your word for it that it was every bit as offensive as Carr. But if it was, I promise I dislike that as well.

RegardingMary · 08/02/2022 15:27

I think it's ridiculous if I'm being honest.

Anyone turning on or attending a Jimmy Carr show knows what they're in for. A huge part of his selling point is that he's offensive.

Nobody has stumbled across that line, they've purposefully put on a show with an offensive comedian.

If you don't want to get wet, don't get on the log flume.

FourTeaFallOut · 08/02/2022 15:28

I'm not talking about you. I'm talking about everyone who is offended by ugly jokes but turn a bling eye to the ugly conditions in which they take shape. That would be practically every media outlet yesterday.

Youcansaythatagainandagain · 08/02/2022 15:30

I cannot stand Jimmy Carr and have never understood his appeal or humour.

He should apologise and be knocked off his perch.

I remember years ago being at a comedy show. The comedian poked fun at people in wheel chairs. Some women expressed their disgust and he proceeded to tell them they’d be lucky to be raped as it would be the only way someone would have sex with them. He went on to become quite well known as a ‘comedian’.
I’ve never understood this type of ‘humour’.

DrSbaitso · 08/02/2022 15:32

@FourTeaFallOut

I'm not talking about you. I'm talking about everyone who is offended by ugly jokes but turn a bling eye to the ugly conditions in which they take shape. That would be practically every media outlet yesterday.
News space is limited and news stories are time sensitive. I'm not suggesting all news outlets are totally impartial and brilliantly fair. But it would seem that by highlighting the joke and the response to it, they are shining a light on the discussion. We're discussing it now.
Original poster
cavalierkingc · 08/02/2022 15:34

I do not believe in 'cancelling' people. As someone else mentioned, would people of laughed if it was about another minority?
He joked about black lives matter without mocking the victims. I think he could of easily found a way to do the same with Gypsies.
I get jokes about me being a gypsy most days, and I laugh. This one was too far. I was a fan of his. Wont ever watch him again now.

OP posts:
SartresSoul · 08/02/2022 15:35

I didn’t laugh at the joke about travellers but the joke about Jehovahs witnesses afterwards was pretty funny, I burst out laughing actually. My Dad and his family are Jewish. My Dad’s Grandparents fled the Nazis in the 40s and came here so I don’t find genocide or the atrocities of the Nazi party funny, in the slightest. Just that particular joke was funny to me. Maybe I should have a cold shower and think about what a horrible person I am.

FourTeaFallOut · 08/02/2022 15:36

Bollocks. One is shocking and people are clambering to demand a comedian is cancelled, another is commissioned and normalised and sits among a hundred other - let's go have a peek at those awful big fat gypsies - back catalogue where people can sit at home in comfort and point at how unusual and different they are. Which do you think does more harm - if harm is what we care about and not our sensitive ears.

Original poster
cavalierkingc · 08/02/2022 15:36

I don't care the excuse he was bringing awareness to it either. Everyone knows that the Nazi's targeted other groups besides Jewish people.

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AdmiralCain · 08/02/2022 15:36

I know Jimmy, we're not BFF's or anything. He's a very quiet shy, reserved respectful man. You need to understand he has a persona when he's on stage, it's a performance, a brand. The views The onstage Jimmy spouts are a million miles away from what the real life Jimmy would say. Jimmy would never say those things if you had a casual chat with him down the street.

neverbeenskiing · 08/02/2022 15:37

If you don't want to get wet, don't get on the log flume

So racist jokes are fine, and it's the responsibility of ethnic minorities to make sure they avoid hearing them?

DrSbaitso · 08/02/2022 15:41

@AdmiralCain

I know Jimmy, we're not BFF's or anything. He's a very quiet shy, reserved respectful man. You need to understand he has a persona when he's on stage, it's a performance, a brand. The views The onstage Jimmy spouts are a million miles away from what the real life Jimmy would say. Jimmy would never say those things if you had a casual chat with him down the street.
I can absolutely believe that he's got a stage persona, in fact I expect it. Performers can't be "on" all the time.

It doesn't mean he isn't responsible for his act and what he puts out there as part of the show.

I'm not calling for him to be cancelled. But robust criticism is in order. I don't know what else overtly, deliberately offensive people expect?

Original poster
cavalierkingc · 08/02/2022 15:43

Still don't understand the just don't watch it comment. If someone is being racist they should always be called out on it.

In day to day life I'm not even shocked anymore to hear comments from people being casually racist about us. No one blinks an eye either when they do.
I was in the staff room at work a few months back and at the next table were 4 members of staff discussing how bad we are!

OP posts:
HelloFrostyMorning · 08/02/2022 15:44

@AdmiralCain

I know Jimmy, we're not BFF's or anything. He's a very quiet shy, reserved respectful man. You need to understand he has a persona when he's on stage, it's a performance, a brand. The views The onstage Jimmy spouts are a million miles away from what the real life Jimmy would say. Jimmy would never say those things if you had a casual chat with him down the street.
Lame excuses there .. 'oh it's just an act.' Come OFF it! Hmm