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David jason apologises for 'racist' Joke

69 replies

beanieb · 26/03/2009 14:43

here

"Speaking on Christian O'Connell's Absolute Radio show the day after the joke was broadcast, the star said it was a "silly little play on words".

He added: "It seems that someone has taken offence or someone is upset by it and for that of course I'm sorry."

Despite no complaints having been made to the station, an Absolute spokeswoman said the joke was "unacceptable".

"The comments made by David Jason were unacceptable and Christian O'Connell distanced himself from them live on air.

"We consider the views of our listeners to be very important and have received no complaints about these comments. "

the Joke was "What do you call a Pakistani cloakroom attendant?"

A "Mahatma coat."

Hmmmmm - haven't seen any front page headlines about this, did I miss them?

OP posts:
LEMAGAIN · 26/03/2009 15:09

lets not!!!

Disappointed in DJ though, what a crap joke

FigmentOfYourImagination · 26/03/2009 15:10

Phil mcgee ? I don;t get the mcgee bit

I've heard of the Irish/Scottish dentist Phil McAverty. I suppose that could work for a porn star too

FigmentOfYourImagination · 26/03/2009 15:11

actually i suppose it would be McAvitty

LadyGlencoraPalliser · 26/03/2009 15:13

Doesn't anyone even wonder why the joke substitutes Pakistani for the correct nationality?

mayorquimby · 26/03/2009 15:14

sorry, gee is irish slang for what i think is endearingly referred to on hear as a fanjo.
so it should sound like "fill my gee" i.e. lady special bits what you put a penis in.

FigmentOfYourImagination · 26/03/2009 15:15

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

[not Irish emoticon required]

StewieGriffinsMom · 26/03/2009 15:16

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn

myredcardigan · 26/03/2009 15:19

Although for most of his life there was no Pakistan at all!

LadyGlencoraPalliser · 26/03/2009 15:22

But he was not even a native of the region that subsequently became Pakistan.

PortAndLemon · 26/03/2009 15:29

Mahatma isn't a name, either. It's an honorific meaning (roughly) "Great Soul". So essentially the message is "tee hee, if you say this Sanskrit title in English then it sounds as though it involves hats. Isn't that funny?". It isn't funny, and calling it "Pakistani" and building an entire joke around it doesn't make it any funnier.

Tortington · 26/03/2009 15:37

so the jokes not funny

the wrong country

the wrong name even

thats not the point at all.

it was meant to be a derogatory sneery kind of laugh at another culture.

it was racist.

is david jason racist. i dunno, he made a stupid unfunny joke. i wouldn't class him as a card carrying member of the BNP off the back of it. and rather think the whole thing is hyped into nonsense.

however no doubt about it. it was racist.

myredcardigan · 26/03/2009 15:39

Wellit may not be funny but I don't think it's racist either.

I think we need to remember that racism is about hate. It is nasty and very often dangerous. And being offensive doesn't actually make it racist either.

Telling a play on words joke however unfunny or lacking in fact or indeed tact is not a racist act.

We need to keep perspective otherwise true racism gets lost in the wash and we become immune to it and less shocked which cannot be good.

myredcardigan · 26/03/2009 15:41

Strange x-posts there Custy which seem to disagree but raise the same point.

TheProfiteroleThief · 26/03/2009 15:43

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Mumcentreplus · 26/03/2009 16:00

It's racist...and a crap joke..just because it does not offend you doesn't mean it's not racist tis simple

myredcardigan · 26/03/2009 16:16

I still disagree that it's racist. Offensive yes, but not racist. If the joke was about a Welshman and sheep or a Scot being tight we wouldn't be so twitchy about it.

Racism, to me is an act or set of beliefs that show hatred towards those from another country or race. Or the belief that you are somehow better than another person based upon their race or the colour of their skin.

So my view FWIW, is that DJ told a joke that was offensive to Pakistanis and Indians and to anyone with a sense of humour or history. But that it was not racist.

tengreenbottles · 26/03/2009 16:16

was Ghandi the only bloke in India with the name Mahatma then?

TheProfiteroleThief · 26/03/2009 16:25

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

LadyGlencoraPalliser · 26/03/2009 16:32

OK, so ignorant, prejudiced and offensive but not racist.
I can live with that.

Grammaticus · 26/03/2009 16:33

I didn't see this as racist, though it might have been better if he'd got it right and said Indian (though for all I know Mahatma is a common name in Pakistan, and it's just that Mahatma Ghandi was Indian).

Shilpa Poppadum though I think was offensive in a you're-all-the-same-don't-expect-me-to-remember-your-real-name kind of way.

Mumcentreplus · 26/03/2009 17:07

the joke is making fun of someone because of their nationality and ethnic identity...how is that not racist?...does it have to be uber offensive to be truely classed as racist..the fact that you all don't feel it's racist doesn't change the fact it is...

TheProfiteroleThief · 26/03/2009 17:20

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

myredcardigan · 26/03/2009 17:41

Actually, mumcentreplus, I think it's making fun of someone because of their name rather than their race. By that I mean if Mahatma Ghandi had been a white British pop star, the joke (or not)is still there IYSWIM. It's his name, regardless of its origin that's the play on words. Not his race.

PakiRulez · 27/03/2009 01:15

Grammaticus on Thu 26-Mar-09 16:33:24 wrote:

"I didn't see this as racist, though it might have been better if he'd got it right and said Indian (though for all I know Mahatma is a common name in Pakistan, and it's just that Mahatma Ghandi was Indian)."
---------

Dude, I don't know where you got your info from that Mahatma is a common Pakistani name. Can you tell me the name of a single Pakistani who'se name is Mahatma?

Mahatma is an Indian name and NOT pakistani. Even being an Indian name, it is a very rare Indian name. (Source)

General rule for a Pakistani name is that they have to be Muslim names since majority are Muslims. And Muslim names have an Arabic origin and NOT Hindi or Sanskrit, which is the origin of "Mahatma".

Lindenlass · 27/03/2009 07:04

How on earth is this joke racist? It's just along the same lines as 'what do you call a man with a seagull on his head? Cliff' - uh oh - a bit sexist there. Let me try again. 'what do you call a woman with a tile on her head? ruth' - no sexist again. I'm still specifying the gender of the name!

FFS - all the joke is doing (which is stupid because it's inaccurate) is specifying the origin of the name so that the play on words works. There wouldn't be any point in just saying 'what do you call a cloakroom attendant? Mahatma Coat' because the point is the name is an Indian one (or at least an Indian title).

It's not racist at all. Not funny, and not accurate, but in no way racist at all.