UK comedian Frankie Boyle slammed over Down syndrome rant
I have always seen it as cruel and in exceptionally poor taste to make fun of the disabled -- as being in fact a mark of a deficient sense of humor. I would have to hear the whole segment below, however, to decide whether the comedian really was making fun of the disabled. He does seem to have been generally offensive. Such behavior does a great disservice to comedy generally.
"One of the UK's most popular comedians Frankie Boyle has been rebuked by the mother of a Down syndrome child for making fun of the condition on his latest tour of England.
Sharon Smith, whose five-year-old daughter Tanzie has the condition, became upset as the Scottish comic made jokes lampooning Down syndrome, Sky News reports.
Star of current affairs comedy show Mock The Week, Boyle poked fun at Down syndrome haircuts, labeled those with the condition as "Mongoloids" and said they were destined for an early death.
He then spotted Ms Smith squirming in the front row at the Hexagon Theatre in Reading, southern England, and told her off for talking during his set. Ms Smith, 37, replied that she had personal experience with Down syndrome and was upset by his comments.
Recounting the incident on her personal blog, she said, "He tried to laugh it off: 'Ah, but it's all true isn't it? Everything I have said is true isn't it?' to which I replied 'No, it wasn't'. "He then went on to say that it was the most excruciating moment of his career but then tried to claw the humour back by saying we had paid to come and see him and what should we expect.
"To which I replied that I understood that and that it was my personal problem. He then said it was the last tour ever and that he didn't give a f--k."
Source
One hopes that it was indeed his last tour ever
19 comments:
He sounds like an offensive person even without the comment about Downs. The truly great, world-famous comics of old didn't have to resort to this type of conduct. They had real talent. It's sad to see what passes for "talent" these days.
It's COMEDY, they're supposed to make fun of people.
If that is the case, then why do you get so upset when people make fun of you?
It's comedy and you are the joke!
Really though, it is despicable that you would try and equate attacking people that are challenged and unable to defend themselves with people that can.
But that is the type of person you are. Just another hypocritical leftist that thinks they are better than everyone else.
"If that is the case, then why do you get so upset when people make fun of you? It's comedy and you are the joke!"
---I get upset because sometimes I take it personal. I also take it personal when liberal comedians make fun of Sara Palin, but guess what? I don't have to watch those comedians if I don't want to.
"Really though, it is despicable that you would try and equate attacking people that are challenged and unable to defend themselves with people that can."
---Do you realize that people who are challenged want to be treated like everyone else, which sometimes includes making fun of them?
"But that is the type of person you are. Just another hypocritical leftist that thinks they are better than everyone else."
---No, you're the leftist. It's leftists that say "you can't make fun of blacks, you can't make fun of gays, etc." They're the ones who pick and choose who is worthy of respect and who isn't.
Should comedians be regulated like realtors? Should the government approve the jokes? Private comedy clubs and television networks already have their standards of what they find acceptable, that's why a show like South Park plays on Comedy Central and not ABC.
I happen to like South Park, they make fun of everyone, you should see the episode "The Death Camp of Tolerance" which makes fun of Schindler's List and guess what? Even the Jews find it funny.
You should watch this video, "Springtime for Hitler."
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZGp0hCxSg98
---I get upset because sometimes I take it personal.
But it's just comedy!
As usual, your hypocrisy comes out. You think it is wrong to make jokes about you but it is okay to make fun of those who are incapable of defending themselves.
---Do you realize that people who are challenged want to be treated like everyone else, which sometimes includes making fun of them?
Do you realize how stupid that sounds?
No, I guess not.
It's leftists that say "you can't make fun of blacks, you can't make fun of gays, etc." They're the ones who pick and choose who is worthy of respect and who isn't.
You think that a person's skin color or sexual orientation is the same as making fun of someone who can't defend themselves? You talk all the time about how horrible bullies are and here you are advocating being a bully.
You like the idea of picking on people that can't or won't defend themselves.
Should comedians be regulated like realtors? Should the government approve the jokes?
Another diversion from you. No one (other than you who believes in outlawing things you don't like) believes in the type of regulation you often advocate. At the same time, people have the same freedom of speech to say that this guy, and those who support him are idiots.
"As usual, your hypocrisy comes out. You think it is wrong to make jokes about you but it is okay to make fun of those who are incapable of defending themselves."
---When Bill Maher attacks conservatives, 99.9% of them are incapable of defending themselves because they have no access to TV shows. So by your standards, comedians should only attack celebrities and people with media access which the average person lacks.
"Do you realize how stupid that sounds?
No, I guess not."
---I've seen comedians visit retirenment homes and make fun of old people, so my point that people like to laugh at themselves and others remains valid.
"You think that a person's skin color or sexual orientation is the same as making fun of someone who can't defend themselves? You talk all the time about how horrible bullies are and here you are advocating being a bully."
---Comedy is not bullying. Bullying involves being spat upon, having your wallet thrown into a toilet, having people saying "boom, boom, boom" when you walk, being called ugly names. Comedy can be cruel, but don't compare comedy to the kind of bullying that leads kids to kill themselves or others.
"You like the idea of picking on people that can't or won't defend themselves."
---Yet I'm always picking on George Soros, Michael Moore, Obama, Bill Maher, Hollywood celebrities and plenty of other rich liberals that can and do themselves all the time. Of course, since you're not a fair and balanced person like Fox News, you always try to portray me in the worst possible light.
"At the same time, people have the same freedom of speech to say that this guy, and those who support him are idiots."
---Yes, "if you don't think like me, you're an idiot." That's how progressives see the world. I on the other hand have a more realistic view of things. For example, I don't like Howard Stern, but I don't refer to his followers as idiots or to him as an idiot.
See? You are so blinded with your morality that anyone who doesn't do things like you do has to be an idiot in your eyes.
Bobby, what Bill Maher does has nothing to do with comedy, and everything to do with hate. He hates anyone who's not a Marxist like him. You would think someone living with a black street hooker would have a sense of humor. He does not!
---When Bill Maher attacks conservatives, 99.9% of them are incapable of defending themselves because they have no access to TV shows.
If this is what you mean by "defending oneself," no wonder you take the reprehensible stances you do.
---I've seen comedians visit retirenment homes and make fun of old people, so my point that people like to laugh at themselves and others remains valid.
First, I don't believe that you have ever visited a retirement home other than for some self serving issue. Secondly, once again, the elderly person can defend themselves.
Lastly, are you really trying to say that a person with Downs was in the audience? Are you saying that as we laugh at ourselves, you think his comments are funny because you are challenged mentally as well?
Your point is invalid.
Comedy can be cruel, but don't compare comedy to the kind of bullying that leads kids to kill themselves or others.
Once again, you speak out of ignorance:
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE63847420100409?type=technologyNews
http://www.frankwbaker.com/teen_mag_suicide_link.htm
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article6841908.ece
---Yet I'm always picking on George Soros, Michael Moore, Obama, Bill Maher, Hollywood celebrities and plenty of other rich liberals that can and do themselves all the time.
You make comments about those people all the time. Do you not see how much of a hypocrite you really are?
---Yes, "if you don't think like me, you're an idiot." That's how progressives see the world.
So your views mirror those of progressives.
Thanks for establishing that.
See? You are so blinded with your morality that anyone who doesn't do things like you do has to be an idiot in your eyes.
How can you tell if someone is moral being that you don't have any morals yourself? Narcissists only care about themselves, so what do you care about what other people say?
You are incapable of defending your ideas and actions directly. That in and of itself is funny.
Oh, by the way, wanna hear something funny? You should die young.
Funny, huh?
Well, not at all yet that was one of the comments made by this comedian.
Gosh, I bet you are rolling on the floor of your mother's basement at the thought of a person with Downs dying. I bet that is hysterical to you. As you steal $20 from your mother to go out rent a hooker for a few minutes, I bet you'll smile remembering that comment.
You would think someone living with a black street hooker would have a sense of humor. He does not!
Bobby is not living with a hooker, as his mom won't allow them in her basement.
But he does rent them all the time.
"If this is what you mean by "defending oneself," no wonder you take the reprehensible stances you do."
---You're such a pharisee, always taking my words out of context.
"You make comments about those people all the time. Do you not see how much of a hypocrite you really are?"
---Great, so now I can't attack people who can defend themselves. What's the matter with you? If I say black do you have to say white? You're infuriating!
"So your views mirror those of progressives."
---No, it is YOUR views that mirror those of progressives. You with your political correctness and rules about who can be ridiculed and who cannot.
"How can you tell if someone is moral being that you don't have any morals yourself? Narcissists only care about themselves, so what do you care about what other people say?"
---I'm too self-critical to be a narcissist. In fact, I think you're a narcissist since I've never heard you speak of your sins, faults, mistakes, errors, and anything that would show the real you. Besides, I'm not in love with myself, YOU ARE! You debate me only to prove yourself superior and feel better about how "moral" and "decent" you are.
"Oh, by the way, wanna hear something funny? You should die young.
Funny, huh?"
---I've heard much worst than that one.
But fine, go ahead and start a war against comedy.
---You're such a pharisee, always taking my words out of context.
Geez man, you don't even know what a Pharisee was and yet you want to try and make it an insult. Your words were not taken out of context. You tried to change the parameters of the discussion and got caught and that ticks you off.
---Great, so now I can't attack people who can defend themselves. What's the matter with you? If I say black do you have to say white? You're infuriating!
I am infuriating to you because I point your lies and hypocrisy. Such things cannot stand the light of reason and it ticks you off.
---I'm too self-critical to be a narcissist.
You are only critical of others.
Besides, I'm not in love with myself, YOU ARE! You debate me only to prove yourself superior and feel better about how "moral" and "decent" you are.
The funny thing is that I have never made those claims. You must have some sort of sense that you are immoral and a narcissist because you keep lashing out and not hitting anything.
---I've heard much worst than that one.
Once again you simply don't have the guts to admit that "jokes" like that are wrong. You say "I have heard worse" without ever being able to say "this is the line that decent people won't cross." Apparently you think that making fun of mentally or physically challenged is funny.
Someone once said that a society and by extension the people of that society, are measured not on how strong they are, but how they treat the weakest and those least able to protect themselves.
You show what kind of a person you are by thinking attacks on those unable to defend themselves, or those needing assistance, are somehow funny.
But fine, go ahead and start a war against comedy.
Once again you demonstrate your lack of reading and writing comprehension skills.
If you think attacking mentally and physically challenged people is "funny" or "comedy," then you have another problem in your long list of problems.
But let's return for a moment to this comment from you:
---No, it is YOUR views that mirror those of progressives. You with your political correctness and rules about who can be ridiculed and who cannot.
I would hope that you would remember when Letterman, than your idol Bill Maher, and then your favorite TV show South Park ridiculed Bristol Palin, Sarah Palin's grandson who has Down Syndrome. Conservatives roundly criticized these people mocking a kid with Down Syndrome. Even your buddy Bill O'Reilly condemned it.
Leftists and Progressives like yourself thought it was funny.
"It is comedy!" they (and you) proclaim.
You see Bobby, conservatives believe that people have the right to say things and that there are consequences - whether legal, moral, or pubic consequences to those words.
Liberals think that people have the right to say things as long as those same liberals agree with it.
The guy has a right to say what he said. We have the right to say that he is wrong to attack people with Down Syndrome.
In this instance you have once again shown that you don't like criticism of things you agree with. That is all this is about. You want to shut those who disagree with you up.
To try and fortify your position, you made the claim that others were trying to make what this comic said "illegal." You won't find anyone who said that, but your positions are always full of lies and distortions. You then tried to claim that words never drove people to suicide, and once that was shown to be a lie, you simply ignored it.
Finally, you and I do not "debate" simply because you can never stay on one subject. You and I have discussions where you lie, distort, and change the goalpost like a good little liberal, and then I smash your liberal views.
That's what really infuriates you.
"I would hope that you would remember when Letterman, than your idol Bill Maher, and then your favorite TV show South Park ridiculed Bristol Palin, Sarah Palin's grandson who has Down Syndrome. Conservatives roundly criticized these people mocking a kid with Down Syndrome. Even your buddy Bill O'Reilly condemned it. "
---Actually, it was Family Guy that ridiculed Palin's grandchild.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/20/arts/television/20family.html
And how dare do you suggest that Bill Maher is my idol? I hate his guts and I never watch his show.
---Actually, it was Family Guy that ridiculed Palin's grandchild.
Okay. My fault.
Now, how does that fact that it was Family Guy change the fact that what conservatives universally criticized is something that you support?
You support the vitriol and attacks on the weakest of people because that fits your political and moral ideology.
And how dare do you suggest that Bill Maher is my idol? I hate his guts and I never watch his show.
Yet you cite him all the time and believe that what he does is funny and "comedy."
By the way, it doesn't escape notice that the rest of my post you ignored.
Typical response from you - a diversion on something and then another diversion off the topic.
"Now, how does that fact that it was Family Guy change the fact that what conservatives universally criticized is something that you support?"
---I support free speech, even when it's used to attack me and others. Besides, sometimes Family Guy attacks all kinds of people.
"You support the vitriol and attacks on the weakest of people because that fits your political and moral ideology."
---That's ridiculous.
"Yet you cite him all the time and believe that what he does is funny and "comedy."
---Rush Limbaugh cites Obama all the time yet I doubt that's his "idol." Besides, what he does is comedy, thousands of people have bought tickets to see his shows, thousands laugh, and before he became a radical leftists, I used to find him funny, but now he offends me. Besides, comedy is subjective, I assume some people hate Blazing Saddles, Spaceballs and Robin Hood: Men in Tights.
"By the way, it doesn't escape notice that the rest of my post you ignored."
---I'm not interesting in answering all your personal attacks, I have better things to do with my time.
---I support free speech, even when it's used to attack me and others. Besides, sometimes Family Guy attacks all kinds of people.
So you support attacks on the weakest in our society.
That is all that needs to be known about you in this case.
And we all have seen that you don't support free speech, you only support speech that you agree with. An example of this was your opposition to the legal meeting of the church in a neighborhood.
---That's ridiculous.
Your words here prove my point.
---Rush Limbaugh cites Obama all the time yet I doubt that's his "idol."
Limbaugh listens to Obama because that is what he does. You cite Maher and then claim you don't listen or watch him.
Clearly you supported his attack on Bristol Palin. It was funny to you.
Be a man and for once in your life own up to what you believe instead of running away from it every time you are challenged.
---I'm not interesting in answering all your personal attacks, I have better things to do with my time.
Personnel attacks to you are anything that demonstrates that you are lying and a hypocrite.
"Mommy! The mean man is still proving that I am a liar!"
But I can see that answering and standing up for your beliefs would take away from cleaning your room in your mom's basement and trying to steal some money for another hooker.
I just can't believe that there has been all this discussion of Bobby's post and no one actually questioned his most outrageous statement. Lisa Lampinelli is one of the best comedians? Dude, you need to get out more!
"Limbaugh listens to Obama because that is what he does. You cite Maher and then claim you don't listen or watch him."
---Well, I used to watch him before he became a commie. Nowadays I just read about him in those websites that expose liberal bias in the media. Bill O'reilly also covers him everytime he says something stupid. So you see? Just because I know about him doesn't make me a fan.
"Clearly you supported his attack on Bristol Palin. It was funny to you."
---I never supported that, what are you talking about? You're getting confused about the things I said.
"Personnel attacks to you are anything that demonstrates that you are lying and a hypocrite."
---Learn to spell, "personal" is not "personnel."
"But I can see that answering and standing up for your beliefs would take away from cleaning your room in your mom's basement and trying to steal some money for another hooker."
---It doesn't matter what my beliefs are because you're not intersted in them. You're only interested in attackign me rather than my arguments.
12:59 PM on the other hand disagrees with me saying that Lissa Lampinelli is a great comedian. See? That's not a personal attack, that's an opinion. I think Carrot Top is a HORRIBLE comedian yet he has a show at The Luxor in Vegas and people pay big money to see him.
That's the beauty of freedom, instead of getting the government involved we simply let the marketplace reward and punish products, people and companies accordingly.
I think that Frankie Boyle handled the reaction poorly. As a professional comedian he should be able to cleverly or simply handle those who do not prefer his line of jokes. It wouldn’t take much either, since it doesn’t sound like this woman was an actual heckler. He could have stated, “I apologize, M’am. Some jokes will be offensive to various people from time to time. My aim wasn’t to upset you.” then smiled and left it at that.
Frankie Boyle is funny. Making fun of disabled people is funny. The most popular comedy now is based on making fun of people who are different, not preaching hate. If u buy a ticket to a live comedy gig to see a famous controversial comedian then you're a dick! Especially if u have disabled kids. Read Boyle's book.. he says these things in his gigs because people find them funny, not because he hates minorities.
Say what you will - retards are funny.
And they have a (R) after their name. (hint: (R) does not stand for retard)
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