...but should Nadine Dorries decide what counts as comedy?

Calls are growing for Jimmy Carr to be prosecuted for his offensive Holocaust joke, as politicians, celebrities and Travellers lined up to condemn him.

Several people have reported the comedian to police via Twitter for the anti-Gypsy gag on his Netflix special His Dark Material. And My Big Fat Gypsy Wedding’s Paddy Doherty told the Sunday Mirror: ‘He should be investigated by the police. That wasn't a joke. He's talking about mass murder being a positive – would he be allowed to say this about black people killed by the Ku Klux Klan?’

Trade unionist Howard Beckett, who sits on Labour’s ruling National Executive committee for Unite, added: ‘Jimmy Carr is celebrating racist genocide. He has no place on our screens and must be prosecuted for racist hate crime.’

Culture Secretary Nadine Dorries said the comments were ‘abhorrent and they just shouldn't be on television’ – and said  forthcoming legislation would call streaming services such as Netflix to account. At present they are not covered by Ofcom regulations.

However, comedy writer David Schneider suggested her comments were hugely hypocritical.

‘Interesting to see Nadine Dorries condemning Jimmy Carr’s joke about gypsies when her own government is bringing in laws that remove rights from the Gypsy, Roma and Traveller community,’ he tweeted. ‘That’s how the process that ended in the Holocaust began.’

Dorries previously hit out against censoring jokes, claiming that ‘left-wing snowflakes are killing comedy’. When challenged about this on BBC Breakfast she suggested that argument entirely depends on her personal views on what counts as 'comedy'.

‘Well, that's not comedy,’ she said. ‘What Jimmy Carr did last night is not comedy.’

The comedian's comments were actually made last year and released by Netflix on Christmas Day. Despite being released so late, it was the most-streamed stand-up special in the UK last year, according to analysts Digital i.

Carr acknowledges how contentious the line  before telling it, saying:‘This should be a career-ender. OK. strap in everyone – you ready?’

To the gasps of the audience, he then says: ‘When people talk about the Holocaust they talk about the tragedy and horror of six million Jewish lives being lost to the Nazi war machine. But they never mention the thousands of Gypsies that were killed by the Nazis.  No one ever wants to talk about that, because no one ever wants to talk about the positives.’

Carr defended the gag on stage, saying it was ‘fucking funny’, ‘edgy as all hell’ and had an ‘educational quality’.

‘Everyone in the room knows six million Jewish people lost their lives to the Nazis during World War Two,’ he says. ‘But a lot of people don’t know, because it’s not really taught in our schools, that the Nazis also killed, in their thousands, Gypsies, homosexuals, disabled people and Jehovah’s Witnesses.’

‘People say "never forget", well this is how I remember. I keep bringing it up.’

The material has been  condemned Labour MPs including David Lammy who described it as ‘despicable’ andNadia Whittome  and Mary Kelly Foy, who both wrote to Netflix chief executives Ted Sarandos and Reed Hastings calling on them to immediately axe the special.

And a petition set up by The Traveller Movement demanding the same thing has almost 10,000 signatures.

Meanwhile, the jokes has divided comedians. David Baddiel posted an argument from his Trolls: Not The Dolls differentiating the subject of a joke and its target.

He said:‘You can obviously tell a Holocaust joke that is cruel and inhumane and mean-spirited and racist. Or you can tell one that targets the oppressors or draws attention to the fundamental evil of it, or shines are light on the humanity of victims.’

He then added: ‘Clearly, Jimmy Carr's was the former.’

‘As a footnote, I'd add that Jimmy is a close friend of mine and a brilliant stand-up in general. Makes no difference to how I feel or think about this specific joke.’

Victoria Coren Mitchell also posted how she loved Carr, calling him ‘a close friend who’s made about a thousand jokes I wouldn’t make myself, as a stage performer, but as a man is full of goodness and kindness. He’s a properly decent person.’

But that did not satisfy the comic’s critics. As one posted in response: ‘Apparently Jimmy Carr is lovely in real life and only racist for money on the telly. I see.’

And comic and Alma’s Not Normal creator Sophie Willan responded: ‘Who cares if he’s your mate. His rhetoric is gross and any small support of this is racist in my opinion… It’s more than a "joke" it’s a mentality of racism. It’s saying that some peoples lives don’t matter & their genocide is funny. He doesn’t need saving. Allow him to be accountable.’

Coren Mitchell later added that she knew she would get a backlash for her support, but posted her sentiment ‘because it's true and because I'm not a fairweather friend’.

Author Philip Pullman, whose book title His Dark Materials was appropriated by Carr for the punny title of his special, also condemned the comic. He said: ‘I had no idea what Jimmy Carr would be talking about in his show, which I'm not going to name. His 'joke' about the Holocaust is abominable, sickening, and I'd be very glad if he called his show something else from now on.’

The row could affect Carr's live work. Some people have already called on Sheffield City Council, which previously banned Roy Chubby Brown from its venues, to take the same stance against the younger comic. 'Why are you platforming someone making vile racist jokes about genocide? This has no place anywhere but especially not in a city which prides itself on being compassionate and inclusive,' one resident tweeted to the council. Carr is due to play the taxpayer funded City Hall on Sheffield on March 26 as part of his Terribly Funny tour.

This is not the first time Carr has made jokes that have targettted Travellers.  In 2006, the BBC had to issue an apology over a joke Carr made about Gypsy women, on Radio 4’s Loose Ends. At the time, he said: ‘The male gypsy moth can smell the female gypsy moth up to seven miles away – and that fact also works if you remove the word "moth".’

Here’s how some public figures have taken to Twitter to comment on the gag:

Romany author Mikey Walsh: ‘I don’t know what I should be more gutted or disgusted by here.. the kind of Racism that us GRT [Gypsy, Roma and Traveller] people are forced to live with every day.. that’s it’s still absolutely ok to demonise us & our demise as a joke…or the reactions of whooping & cheering from the audience…’

Rob Rinder: ‘Jimmy Carr’s "joke" suggesting the systematic genocide of gypsies during the Holocaust was a "good thing" is breathtakingly racist. The truly disturbing thing isn’t just the gag, it’s that on hearing it, instead of leaving, the audience clapped, whooped and cheered in approval.

David Lammy MP: ‘Jimmy Carr’s attack on the Gypsy, Roma and Traveller community is utterly despicable. It was only last week we commemorated the Holocaust.  @Netflix should remove his sickening celebration of genocide immediately.’

Singer-songwriter Tracey Thorn: ‘I have never heard a *joke* that has more made me despise the teller.’

Karen Pollock, chief executive of the Holocaust Educational Trust: ‘The targeting of Sinti and Roma people during the Holocaust is no laughing matter. This is tasteless and offensive.’

Olivia Marks-Woldman, chief executive of the Holocaust Memorial Day Trust: ‘We are absolutely appalled at Jimmy Carr’s comment…. and horrified that gales of laughter followed his remarks. Hundreds of thousands of Roma and Sinti people suffered prejudice, slave labour, sterilisation and mass murder simply because of their identity – these are not experiences for mockery. The widespread ignorance of this recent history needs to be addressed and we urge everyone to learn more about the past and the experiences of Roma people today. Roma and Sinti people still face dreadful prejudice as this incident shows. 

The Traveller Movement: 'This is truly disturbing and goes way beyond humour. ‘

Freddy Quinne: ‘I don't care what your opinion is on Jimmy Carr, but: 1. It was a joke. You can't pretend it was anything other than that. 2) Don’t try and get it taken off Netflix. If you don't like it, fine, but stop trying to dictate what other people are allowed to enjoy.  The people that watch Jimmy Carr doing a show called "His Dark Materials" then proceed to get offended anyway are the reason bags of peanuts have "may contain nuts" on the packaging.’

Leo Kearse: ‘I've got a sneaking suspicion that Jimmy Carr's offensive comment about gypsies might have actually been a JOKE. Does anyone really, REALLY believe that Jimmy Carr thinks that thousands of gypsies being murdered by the Nazis was a "positive"? Or do you think he might have been joking?’

Konstantin Kisin: ‘The Jimmy Carr joke about gypsies is obviously a complicated situation in which you have to consider the complex relationship between race, ethnicity, comedy and offence. Having done that, my conclusion is: FUCK OFF, IT'S A FUCKING JOKE.

And radio presenter Julia Hartley-Brewer:  ‘Does anyone actually believe that @jimmycarr thinks it was a "positive" thing that the Nazis murdered gypsies? No, of course they don’t. And of course he doesn’t. IT’S A JOKE. It’s funny BECAUSE it’s shocking. That’s the POINT of the joke. You don’t have to find the joke funny or like @jimmycarr to stand up and defend his right to tell that joke without facing censorship, being cancelled or even prosecuted for a hate crime. If you don’t find it funny, then don’t laugh. You’re not a victim of a joke. Get a grip.’

Published: 6 Feb 2022