David jason apologises for 'racist' Joke

[beanieb]

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?

Political correctness gone mad...again.

It was a pun FGS!

BTW Custardo, I find your name racist and offensive. Custard is a thick, lumpy and unfashionable foodstuff and by using this name and sticking an O on the end, in the way that people from Latin countries often have an O on the end of their name, you are implying that the Italians and Spanish are thick and lumpy.

Shit joke by David Jason. But not racist.

I still don't get the Chinese + dentist + two thirty joke.

not racist at all...just a joke that's a million years old..

beanieb..you are too much sometimes

interesting thread, if carol thatcher had made this joke would the response have been the same?

Thanks to the posters who explained the joke as I had not understood it! Not racist IMHO

I don't like David Jason and clicked on this expecting to agree that he was one more deluded old man fooling himself that he hadn't been racist.

but there is no maliciousness there, it really is a play on words.

A riskier joke perhaps, also a play on words that made ME laugh the other day... about an ruc man and an ira man who met somewhere socially, (can't remember the details) Q: what happened?

punchline is "Ni Ceaphaim!!" which is pronounced the same as Kneecap 'im.

I laughed. :-0

PLUS, I forgot to say, Ní Ceaphaim means "I don't know" in gaelic. quite clever in a groany kind of way.

"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... "

yes and the fact that others come out with sentences like "of course it's racist.END OF" etc doesn't mean it is automatically make it racist.

The fact that it is offensive is because it's racist...it makes fun of the difference and name of a person of a particular origin...you could not use this joke on a white or black person because it is specifically aimed at some one of asian origin...dont be confused tis simple..

would you be happy to tell this joke to an asian friend?..would you worry about if they would find it offensive?

facts are racist jokes are about differencesand humour is about noticing those differences and playing on them..just like the difference between a man and woman or a child and an adult the old and the young...and that doesn't mean you can't enjoy them...but they MAY offend and you have to bear that in mind...don't sugar coat this...the joke was racist

Sorry, I am coming to this late... but on a small point. India and Pakistan were not two separate countries when Mahatma Ghandi was campaigning for independence from the British Empire so although he indeed was not Pakistani, the India he was from was not distinguished from Pakistan as India and Pakistan are distinguished from each other today.

Ah, think I'll go and have lie down now.

Just had my first glass of wine and I'm probably not making much sense.

I didn't say Mahatma was a common Pakistani name! I said "for all I know Mahatma is a common Pakistani name". Meaning - I don't know whether it is or not.

Anyway - the Scottish cloakroom attendant Angus McCoatup. Is that racist too?

I've come to the conclusion that the reason some consider it racist even to mention a nationality is that deep down they think that saying someone is from pakistan/india is derogotary in itself. Like mentioning someone's disability.

gawd, difficult one, this. i agree with everyone. he's an old duffer who doesn't realise this isn't the sort of thing that you can broadcast any more, Ghandi was Indian (old indian), it's not a name etc etc etc but i still think that it's just a crap old joke, which has its origins in a put-down no doubt. unlike shilpa poppadum, which was a put-down quite directly.

Sorry to be a bloody pedant 'n all, but it's Gandhi, not Ghandi.
Goodnight to you all.

hahahaha, you're right. i always, ALWAYS spell his name wrong. and gordon ramsay's too. it's a sickness. (it may be ramsey).

Gordon Ramsay and Mahatma Gandhi. Not usually to be found in the same sentence, but that's the joy of MN!
Now I really am off to bed...

LOL at this argument. It's so ridiculous that this joke should have even been an issue in the first place. The world has gone mad IMO. Why the hell should this be racist? People have lost the plot as well as their sense of humour.

Why don't we abolish ALL jokes then? Surely they are all "offensive" in their own ways?

Really, I don't know whether to laugh or cry at society anymore.