Comedian Jimmy Carr has sparked controversy with a joke about the holocaust. He said on his Netflix special, "When people talk about the Holocaust, they talk about the tragedy and horror of 6 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 the positives."
Carr believes no subject should be off limits but it's not the first time his jokes have led to more raised eyebrows than laughter lines.
Here's a few of his more outrageous lines.
1) “If only Africa had more mosquito nets, then every year we could save millions of mosquitoes from dying needlessly of AIDS.”
2) In 2009, on the number of amputee servicemen from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan: “We are going to have a f***ing good Paralympic team in 2012.”
3) “People say dolphins are really intelligent. I think, ‘Yeah, but only compared to the retarded kids we’ve got them swimming with.’”
4) "They say there is safety in numbers, Tell that to six million Jews".
5) In June 2019, Jimmy was reported to have said: "Is a dwarf an abortion that made it?"
6) In 2006, on Radio 4's Loose Ends, he said: "The male gypsy moth can smell the female gyspy moth up to seven miles away – and that fact also works if you remove the word 'moth'."
Those who defend Carr say he has every right to make jokes about any subject. And that, quite simply, they are made to raise a laugh – not because they are his opinions.
His fans also say people who go to his shows or tune into his TV specials know what they are getting. They say context is everything and that pulling one joke out of a one-hour set is unfair.
Only you can be the judge of that.
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