On Christmas Day, Netflix released comedian Jimmy Carr’s special “His Dark Materials,” where the comedian made a controversial joke. You can read about that here.
A Scottish Nationalist Party councilor has now weighed in, suggesting Carr and anyone in the audience that applauded him during the Netflix special should be prosecuted.
Julie McKenzie, the councilor for Oban North & Lorn said the Netflix special contained “hate speech” because of a joke about the holocaust.
“Jimmy Carr and his Netflix hate speech, and his applauding audience should be prosecuted,” she wrote.
The remark was criticized by social media users for being authoritarian and anti-free speech.
“Just so I can get this right, you think people who laugh at offensive jokes should be jailed and thought this would make the SNP look good how?” one user said.
Before making the joke, Carr admitted that it might be career-ending. He then explains that the joke is good because it is educational and “edgy as hell.”
“It’s a joke about the worst thing that’s ever happened in human history, and people say ‘never forget’, well this is how I remember,” he said.
Netflix is under pressure to remove the special, while The Auschwitz Memorial and Holocaust Memorial Day Trust asked Carr to educate himself.
The controversy has sparked debate over comedic value and free speech. Those in support of free speech have criticized “cancel culture,” with Carr saying “comedy is dead.”
The controversy led to UK’s culture secretary Nadine Dorries suggesting the creation of a law to prevent the broadcasting of such comments, which she described as “abhorrent and they just shouldn’t be on television.”
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