Twitter protests

Australian comedian Adam Rozenbachs has apologised after cracking a sick joke about today’s plane crash in the Colombian mountains.

He posted his gag within hours of the tragedy which has claimed 76 lives, including members of the Brazilian football team Chapecoense.

Rozenbachs posted: 'Plane carrying Brazilian soccer team crashes in Columbia. Survivors heard screaming, "Penalty! Penalty!".'

But after facing a storm of protest he backtracked just over an hour later and deleted the original joke.

Typical was Ray Gatt, who said: ‘What a poor excuse of a human being...making jokes about people who have just died in a plane crash. Some sick people around.’

Another, called Lawrie, tweeted: ‘Don't normally do this on Twitter but this bloke genuinely deserves all the hate he can get, pathetic excuse for a comedian.’

Don't normally do this on Twitter but this bloke genuinely deserves all the hate he can get, pathetic excuse for a comedian. @arozenbachs pic.twitter.com/lrrfvsz4YY

— Lawrie (@LawrieOz) November 29, 2016

After the protests, Rozenbachs posted: ‘Apologies for last tweet. Saw a headline and didn’t realise the gravity of the situation. Lesson learned.’

However, his apology didn’t cut much ice with those who noted that he used the word ‘survivors’ in the original joke, revealing that he knew there had been deaths.

Football writer Simon Harrison tweeted: ‘But you said “survivors” so you thought it would be funny despite knowing there were casualties’.

Rozenbachs might have thought his comment would be restricted to his 11,000 followers but news of his tweet has spread around the world, including the Mirror, Mail and Daily Star in the UK, ADN in Chile, the Spanish version of Kremlin-backed RT and the Sydney Morning Herald.

The comedian has performed five stand-up shows at the Melbourne Comedy Festival and was a long-term writer on Adam Hills-fronted music show Spicks & Specks.

Published: 29 Nov 2016