Comic loses job after Tweeting Japan jokes

American comedian Gilbert Gottfried has been fired as the voice of a giant insurance company after making bad-taste jokes about the Japanese earthquake.

The controversial comic will no longer provide the voice of Aflac’s duck mascot because of the gags he made on Twitter.

His messages have now disappeared from the site, but they included lines such as ‘I was talking to my Japanese real estate agent. I said “Is there a school in this area? She said, “Not now, but just wait”’ and ‘Japan is really advanced. They don't go to the beach. The beach comes to them’

In a statement, Aflac said: ‘Gilbert’s recent comments about the crisis in Japan were lacking in humor and certainly do not represent the thoughts and feelings of anyone at Aflac.

‘There is no place for anything but compassion and concern during these difficult times.’

Aflac – which operates in Japan, although Gottfried does not voice the masco there – has donated £750,000 to the International Red Cross for disaster assistance

Gottfried is no stranger to controversy. Three weeks after 9/11 attacks, he made light of the tragedy at a Friars Club to boos from the audience. However he turned the gig around by telling his version of the classic Aristocrats dirty joke.

Meanwhile, a Family Guy writer has apologised for tweeting ‘If you wanna feel better about this earthquake in Japan, google 'Pearl Harbor death toll’ in the aftermath of the tragedy.

After a backlash from his 165,000 followers, Alex Sulkin deleted the original post and wrote: ‘I am sorry for my insensitive Tweet. It's gone.’

The Japanese attack on US forces in Hawaii in the Second World War killed 2,500 people.

This is the job Gottfried lost:

Published: 15 Mar 2011