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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

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:
lucythejuicy · 08/02/2022 22:00

@cavalierkingc well aware of that - have both in the vicinity - also aware that the two groups don't have much time for each other. Are you saying Romas don't leave a mess then and are not antisocial because that is not my experience I am afraid.

Original poster
cavalierkingc · 08/02/2022 22:03

@lucythejuicy
Don't have time for each other? You are so ignorant on the matter. That's completely false.

And yes I am saying MOST gypsies don't behave like that.
Same way id say MOST non gypsies aren't criminals.
Some are but what can you do.

OP posts:
DerAlteMann · 08/02/2022 22:09

I don't know what he said and I don't care. What i do know is that in a truly free country he can say what he likes. I am very worried that we are slowly becoming where the old saying "I don't agree with what you say but will fight to the death to protect your right to say it" no longer applies.

Greywhippet · 08/02/2022 22:24

@DerAlteMann

I don't know what he said and I don't care. What i do know is that in a truly free country he can say what he likes. I am very worried that we are slowly becoming where the old saying "I don't agree with what you say but will fight to the death to protect your right to say it" no longer applies.
In some ways I agree, but free speech and hate speech are not the same thing. There is no excuse for a joke (even a joke that purports to be ‘ironic’, or clever clever in that it is meant to be double bluffing its audience) that is essentially hate speech, or that mimics hate speech or replicates hate speech. I wouldn’t defend anyone’s right to hate speech.
Original poster
cavalierkingc · 08/02/2022 22:28

Very 50/50 by the looks of it. Thank you for your opinions everyone.

OP posts:
Greywhippet · 08/02/2022 22:28

@SnowFlo

I think he just relied on a section of the audience being sufficiently racist to laugh and wasn’t disappointed.

I don't think you need to be racist to laugh at that joke tbh, the same way I don't think you're pro-rape and a rapist if you laugh at a rape joke.

Who on earth would laugh at a rape joke? No one in their right minds
Gilead · 08/02/2022 22:37

The ‘educational moment’ and holding a mirror are a lame excuse. Carr knows full well how such things will be taken and has put himself in the news again. Gosh isn’t he clever.
Well actually, he’s really not. He’s rather like our PM, academically bright but with no filter and no clue regarding appropriate behaviours and social skills.
Bit of a waste of space really.

Gilead · 08/02/2022 22:37

I don't think you need to be racist to laugh at that joke tbh, the same way I don't think you're pro-rape and a rapist if you laugh at a rape joke.
Put that glue down!

MrsSkylerWhite · 08/02/2022 22:40

Someone said “his art”?

What a load of pretentious bollocks.
If I said the good thing about the holocaust was that millions of Jews were wiped out, is that art?

What a load of offensive shit.

SnowFlo · 08/02/2022 22:56

Put that glue down!

Funny.

I've had family members die from illnesses and I can still laugh at a joke about it. I've been the victim of misogyny, DV, sexual assault, and witnessed lots of it in childhood. I still really dgaf about rape jokes, but I guess secretly I find actual rape funny Confused? that's not how it works

Snarkysparky · 08/02/2022 23:02

I don’t agree with Cancelling but he has rightly put himself into a very difficult position
Can’t understand why he thought this was ok

Aderyn21 · 09/02/2022 07:56

@MrsSkylerWhite

Someone said “his art”?

What a load of pretentious bollocks.
If I said the good thing about the holocaust was that millions of Jews were wiped out, is that art?

What a load of offensive shit.

That was me. Like it or not comedy is an art form. Appreciation of it is subjective but just because his comedy isn't something you value, I don't think you can reasonably dismiss it as 'pretentious bollocks'.
BattenbergdowntheHatches · 09/02/2022 08:02

This reply has been withdrawn

Message from MNHQ: This post has been withdrawn

Agrudge · 09/02/2022 08:20

Jimmy carrs omedy is like a Granade, everyone gets a piece.

Men,women,children,gay,straight,religion,race

No one is being singled out

Agrudge · 09/02/2022 08:20

Comedy not omedy

DrSbaitso · 09/02/2022 08:28

@SnowFlo

Put that glue down!

Funny.

I've had family members die from illnesses and I can still laugh at a joke about it. I've been the victim of misogyny, DV, sexual assault, and witnessed lots of it in childhood. I still really dgaf about rape jokes, but I guess secretly I find actual rape funny Confused? that's not how it works

Everyone has experienced tragedy or trauma. And everyone has used humour to get through it.

That context is entirely different to a rich, white, prominent man with large platform getting paid and praised to make jokes at the expense of vulnerable people who haven't anywhere near his sort of privilege or influence.

You probably need to be damaged to take pleasure in it.

DrSbaitso · 09/02/2022 08:37

@Agrudge

Jimmy carrs omedy is like a Granade, everyone gets a piece.

Men,women,children,gay,straight,religion,race

No one is being singled out

Just another benefit of being a rich white man, I guess.
Agrudge · 09/02/2022 08:42

@DrSbaitso

It nothing but do with his race.

Blaming everything on race is what's making us go backwards in race relations

Mamamia7962 · 09/02/2022 08:50

Greywhippet - It's not hate speech. He's not encouraging his audience to be violent towards a certain race or a particular religion. It was a joke that lasted probably 2 minutes out of a 2 hour performance.

SleepOhHowIMissYou · 09/02/2022 08:53

The jokes on us as a population.

Warren Mitchell was always exasperated by viewers who congratulated him on his portrayal of Alf Garnet because the point that he was taking the piss out of racists went completely over their heads. "I'm laughing at you, not "foreigners", YOU"!

This joke's no different. It's pointing out our hypocrisy, our indifference to the acceptable racism against travellers that's endemic. He's laughing at us.

DrSbaitso · 09/02/2022 08:59

[quote Agrudge]@DrSbaitso

It nothing but do with his race.

Blaming everything on race is what's making us go backwards in race relations[/quote]
I love it when people who defend racist jokes suddenly go all Mahatma Gandhi.

I'm making the point that only a very privileged person could be in a position to shit all over everyone in society, including the vulnerable and marginalised, and be paid and praised for it. Reckon we'd be so protective and accepting if a Roma Gypsy tried it? Would we fuck. We'd be screaming about WHY IS IT OK WHEN THEY DO IT!!!

I don't even see why it's an argument. He capitalises on the racism in his audience and makes it OK, attractive even. Why is that cancelled out because he also does some crap jokes about less marginalised groups?

But if you enjoy punching down, there's not much else to say. If you think the sharp weapon of humour is well pointed towards people who are already bleeding, I can't stop you. Just don't channel Gandhi over it.

DrSbaitso · 09/02/2022 09:02

@SleepOhHowIMissYou

The jokes on us as a population.

Warren Mitchell was always exasperated by viewers who congratulated him on his portrayal of Alf Garnet because the point that he was taking the piss out of racists went completely over their heads. "I'm laughing at you, not "foreigners", YOU"!

This joke's no different. It's pointing out our hypocrisy, our indifference to the acceptable racism against travellers that's endemic. He's laughing at us.

No. He's. Not.

It's simply a straight up racist joke for people who enjoy racism if you say it's ok. Don't intellectualise it. There are jokes that attack racism itself and this wasn't one of them. If it happens to highlight that this kind of thing is a problem, great, but it's an unintended consequence. He styled it as an offensive joke. That's his schtick.

BuddhaForMary · 09/02/2022 09:09

I'll defend freedom of speech to the hilt, but what you have to remember is freedom of speech doesn't mean freedom from consequence. Say whatever you like, just don't be surprised when people tell you what you've said is disgusting and closer to hate speech than free speech.

Aderyn21 · 09/02/2022 09:11

I don't think anyone would give a shit if the Roma gypsy had a stand up show along the lines of JC. People can pay to see what they want - let the market decide.

DrSbaitso · 09/02/2022 09:17

I mean look, didn't I say these people can't ever take it themselves? Carr makes a straight up racist joke, people laugh and defend it. I say that only a privileged white person could get this kind of positive reception to it, and suddenly we mustn't bring race into it, that's what's causing racial tensions in society. Do people not hear themselves?