Frankie Boyle makes sick joke about Harvey Price

[trumpetbum]

I would't say I personally was offended, outraged or particularly shocked tbh. I did however think it was in poor taste and that channel 4 had made a poor decision in airing that Joke.

OTOH, if Harvey was my child I'd want to catch up with FB personally iykwim.

 

[cherryglitter]

To be honest I think Frankie doesn't really give a toss about what anyone thinks of him. I mean he has children himself. So I guess he's just literally taking the piss out of someone for the laughs.

Albeit he probably didn't get a lot of laughs from the majority of the public. But whilst there's that market out there, people like him will keep going from strength to strength.

 

[BabyJayne]

I like the bit about people getting offended for other's people's sake and playing devil's advocate.

i agree. i don't take offense to jokes, as they are just that. i can understand people thinking they're bad taste, but to actually take offense..? (i do think this was very bad taste, but worse than that, it wasn't even funny.. and without humour it's just cruel)

i think we live in a culture where we are constantly choosing to be offended.

If you had a child who was disabled though I am pretty sure you would be offended by someone making 'jokes' about disabled children!

I'm a redhead. Should I be up in arms every time someone makes a ginger joke?

 

[cherryglitter]

I like the bit about people getting offended for other's people's sake and playing devil's advocate.

i agree. i don't take offense to jokes, as they are just that. i can understand people thinking they're bad taste, but to actually take offense..? (i do think this was very bad taste, but worse than that, it wasn't even funny.. and without humour it's just cruel)

i think we live in a culture where we are constantly choosing to be offended.

If you had a child who was disabled though I am pretty sure you would be offended by someone making 'jokes' about disabled children!

I'm a redhead. Should I be up in arms every time someone makes a ginger joke?

I was going to bring this up as my brother has been the butt of jokes for years now! But everyone finds that hilarious.

 

[xemmax]

I like the bit about people getting offended for other's people's sake and playing devil's advocate.

i agree. i don't take offense to jokes, as they are just that. i can understand people thinking they're bad taste, but to actually take offense..? (i do think this was very bad taste, but worse than that, it wasn't even funny.. and without humour it's just cruel)

i think we live in a culture where we are constantly choosing to be offended.

If you had a child who was disabled though I am pretty sure you would be offended by someone making 'jokes' about disabled children!

you're completely right, i probably would take huge offense. every joke in the world can offend somebody though. there is always a butt of a joke.

it's totally bad taste to make a vulnerable person the butt of a joke, but then that's what it is... bad taste. i don't think by laughing at a joke about rape (for instance) you are condoning rape (my personal opinion of course), just like i don't think by laughing at a joke about a disability you are laughing at a disabled person. it's more to do with the timing and wording of a joke itself that makes it funny - the shock adds to it for some, for others it takes it too far.

 

[annawrigley]

With regards to the joke, can someone PM where it refers to his disability? I did watch the show and I can't remember anything being said?!

EDIT: Just watched it on youtube. I can't hear him say anything about Harvey actually being disabled. He just jokes about him. Would this be the same if Harvey wasn't disabled? Would people still be in uproar? Just curious
(Like I said in the other thread in GC, im just coming from another angle!)

Um no he doesnt directly mention his disability but the way i took it was he was saying Harvey needed to be restrained from raping his mum cos thats what disabled children do, rape their mums. Like he was a animal or something.

I like the bit about people getting offended for other's people's sake and playing devil's advocate.

i agree. i don't take offense to jokes, as they are just that. i can understand people thinking they're bad taste, but to actually take offense..? (i do think this was very bad taste, but worse than that, it wasn't even funny.. and without humour it's just cruel)

i think we live in a culture where we are constantly choosing to be offended.

If you had a child who was disabled though I am pretty sure you would be offended by someone making 'jokes' about disabled children!

I'm a redhead. Should I be up in arms every time someone makes a ginger joke?

Thats totally the same thing

 

[annawrigley]

And in response to the "if you don't like him, don't watch him" comment.... I did like him, so I watched him. I was shocked and disgusted at that 'joke' (hence this thread) and won't be watching anymore!

Tbh i am really shocked at some comments on here

 

[ILoveShoes]

And in response to the "if you don't like him, don't watch him" comment.... I did like him, so I watched him. I was shocked and disgusted at that 'joke' (hence this thread) and won't be watching anymore!

Tbh i am really shocked at some comments on here

Why?
I think comments like that are what start arguments on these kind of threads. So far, we have gone for 7 pages with nobody insulting anyone or anything like that and I take your last comment as meaning that certain posters on here are wrong for not sharing your viewpoint. If that isn't what you mean, then I sincerely apologise but that's how I interpreted it.

 

[BabyJayne]

With regards to the joke, can someone PM where it refers to his disability? I did watch the show and I can't remember anything being said?!

EDIT: Just watched it on youtube. I can't hear him say anything about Harvey actually being disabled. He just jokes about him. Would this be the same if Harvey wasn't disabled? Would people still be in uproar? Just curious
(Like I said in the other thread in GC, im just coming from another angle!)

Um no he doesnt directly mention his disability but the way i took it was he was saying Harvey needed to be restrained from raping his mum cos thats what disabled children do, rape their mums. Like he was a animal or something.

I like the bit about people getting offended for other's people's sake and playing devil's advocate.

i agree. i don't take offense to jokes, as they are just that. i can understand people thinking they're bad taste, but to actually take offense..? (i do think this was very bad taste, but worse than that, it wasn't even funny.. and without humour it's just cruel)

i think we live in a culture where we are constantly choosing to be offended.

If you had a child who was disabled though I am pretty sure you would be offended by someone making 'jokes' about disabled children!

I'm a redhead. Should I be up in arms every time someone makes a ginger joke?

Thats totally the same thing

The concept of it is yes, totally the same. Why should I be any less hurt? (which I am not by the way).

It's exactly as xemmax says, laughing at a joke about rape does not mean I think rape is funny. It means I am laughing at a joke. If you have time you may want to read that link I posted a few pages back - it has some good points in it.

 

[midori1999]

I actually feel quite sickened that anyone would defend the 'jokes' he made.

My son has Downs Syndrome and whilst I am not about to make the comments of a silly, try too hard 'comedian' (someone on another forum said he is like a small boy saying 'wee, bum, poo, farts' to get attention and I agree) make a huge difference to my life, they do bother me.

Why? Well, because as far as I am concerned, there is nothing 'wrong' with my son. Yet people constantly apologise to me because he has Downs as they see it as a problem. Part of the reason they do this is because of stereotypes of people with Downs, steroetypes which are wrong, and people like FB just perpetuate the myth that there is something wrong with whole sections of people (eg. the disabled) in our society.

Imagine if FB had done an 'impression' of a black person and made a horrible, contorted face and put on a silly voice and said black people were all like that. Would people fine that acceptable? Probaby not, mainly because these days we accept that people aren't different because of the colour of their skin. So, if black people aren't fair game, why are disabled ones?

If FB had made racist comments, I don't believe for one minute Channel 4 would be condoning his behaviour, regardless of the warning given prior to the programme. In fact, they could be subject to legal action.

Why are dead or missing children seen as something to make comedy out of? I cannot imagine any parent (I am one of them) who has lost a child finding that remotely funny. Perhaps those who haven't lost children should be counting their lucky stars, not laughing at jokes about dead children.

I think if a few people on this thread had a disabled child, or one percieved as disabled by society and had to put up with small minded, ignorant comments on a pretty much daily basis, they'd see things a little differently.

 

[ILoveShoes]

Where on this thread has anybody said that they laughed at the bit about the dead children? Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think somebody said that that bit shocked them.
I was talking to my DH about this last night, and I said ghat I didn't particularly like Tramadol Nights - not because it offended me, but because I didn't think it was very funny.
Again, the joke about Harvey was not about him being disabled. His disability was not mentioned. It's like, if he had made a joke about Frank Bruno, would he have been classed as being racist because Frank Bruno is a black man? Not necessarily.
I'm not defending Frankie Boyle or any other comedians - the point I am making is that I,personally, get annoyed when people jump on the band wagon about things like this.
Yes, if he had been personally mocking my child, I would probably felt very upset - but he wasn't personally mocking anyone on here's child - he was mocking Harvey. Now I'm not saying that that's ok, but I can't see why it is making so many people so upset. I didn't think it was funny, but I'm not upset by it.

 

[midori1999]

No-one has said they have laughed at that on this thread, but people have laughed at it. However, people have said 'I like him', 'I think he's funny' etc. without adding something like 'however, he has gone too far with these jokes and I won't be watching him again' and people on this thread have been excusing his behaviour by saying 'it's just abjoke'. Only, it's not just a joke, it's encouraging sterotypes that are incorrect.

He may not have mentioned Harvey's disability, but what he said was well out of order and pretty sick. He has in the past however, taken the p*ss out of other disabilities, such as Downs Syndrome in a very nasty way and as far as I am concerned, that is not acceptable.

 

[indy and lara]

No-one has said they have laughed at that on this thread, but people have laughed at it. However, people have said 'I like him', 'I think he's funny' etc. without adding something like 'however, he has gone too far with these jokes and I won't be watching him again' and people on this thread have been excusing his behaviour by saying 'it's just abjoke'. Only, it's not just a joke, it's encouraging sterotypes that are incorrect.
.

The vast majority of comedy is based on stereotypes- the dumb blonde, the lazy student, the thick toff, the tight fisted Scot. The list goes on and on. I appreciate that people do not like him but others do and I am not sure that they should have to apologise for this.

As I said on the other thread, I do like Frankie Boyle and have since I first saw him about 12 years ago. I also said that I didn't find this joke funny- it was made on his tour earlier in the year so has been in the public domain for quite a long time now. However, I do not agree with censoring comedians. Who decides what is right or wrong?

 

[BabyJayne]

I didn't find the joke funny - but it did not offend me and it won't stop me watching Frankie Boyle. If I was Jordan, maybe I would think differently. But I'm not. I will not apologise for saying that I would watch him again either. He makes jokes about cancer. My mum died of cancer. But I still have the ability to see that he is not making a joke about my mum or my situation.

Quite right Indy and lara - should we appoint a "comedy prefect" who can decide what we should and shouldn't tell jokes about? It's like that famous quote "I do not agree with what you say, but will defend to the death your right to say it". Censoring is a dangerous route to go down!

 

[midori1999]

No-one has said they have laughed at that on this thread, but people have laughed at it. However, people have said 'I like him', 'I think he's funny' etc. without adding something like 'however, he has gone too far with these jokes and I won't be watching him again' and people on this thread have been excusing his behaviour by saying 'it's just abjoke'. Only, it's not just a joke, it's encouraging sterotypes that are incorrect.
.

The vast majority of comedy is based on stereotypes- the dumb blonde, the lazy student, the thick toff, the tight fisted Scot. The list goes on and on. I appreciate that people do not like him but others do and I am not sure that they should have to apologise for this.

As I said on the other thread, I do like Frankie Boyle and have since I first saw him about 12 years ago. I also said that I didn't find this joke funny- it was made on his tour earlier in the year so has been in the public domain for quite a long time now. However, I do not agree with censoring comedians. Who decides what is right or wrong?

Is it these days though? I rather thought we'd moved on from that and comedy generally had a more 'intelligent' and original feel to it now.

As for 'we shouldn't censor'. Are racist jokes OK then? As I said, I doubt Ch. 4 would be defending his right to come out with racist crap, so why is this seen as OK?

 

[midori1999]

I didn't find the joke funny - but it did not offend me and it won't stop me watching Frankie Boyle. If I was Jordan, maybe I would think differently. But I'm not. I will not apologise for saying that I would watch him again either. He makes jokes about cancer. My mum died of cancer. But I still have the ability to see that he is not making a joke about my mum or my situation.

Quite right Indy and lara - should we appoint a "comedy prefect" who can decide what we should and shouldn't tell jokes about? It's like that famous quote "I do not agree with what you say, but will defend to the death your right to say it". Censoring is a dangerous route to go down!

I am sorry about your Mum. There is a fundamental difference though between making jokes about cancer and and making jokes about/belittling those with disabilities. People in general don't think cancer sufferers are stupid or shouldn't be a part of society, yet people do think that about disabled people and people with Downs Syndrome. A lot of that is because of the sterotypes.

However, I don;t know why I am suprised people find it acceptable. I don't really let what ignorant people think bother me, but a friend of mine is rather more fragile and rarely takes her disabled son out because she cannot deal witht he spiteful and nasty comments made by people every single time she goes out. If there are enough people in society to make spiteful comments about someones disabld child in front of them, why wouldn't there be enough to laugh at Frankie Boyle's jokes....

 

[indy and lara]

I didn't find the joke funny - but it did not offend me and it won't stop me watching Frankie Boyle. If I was Jordan, maybe I would think differently. But I'm not. I will not apologise for saying that I would watch him again either. He makes jokes about cancer. My mum died of cancer. But I still have the ability to see that he is not making a joke about my mum or my situation.

Quite right Indy and lara - should we appoint a "comedy prefect" who can decide what we should and shouldn't tell jokes about? It's like that famous quote "I do not agree with what you say, but will defend to the death your right to say it". Censoring is a dangerous route to go down!

I am sorry about your Mum. There is a fundamental difference though between making jokes about cancer and and making jokes about/belittling those with disabilities. People in general don't think cancer sufferers are stupid or shouldn't be a part of society, yet people do think that about disabled people and people with Downs Syndrome. A lot of that is because of the sterotypes.

However, I don;t know why I am suprised people find it acceptable. I don't really let what ignorant people think bother me, but a friend of mine is rather more fragile and rarely takes her disabled son out because she cannot deal witht he spiteful and nasty comments made by people every single time she goes out. If there are enough people in society to make spiteful comments about someones disabld child in front of them, why wouldn't there be enough to laugh at Frankie Boyle's jokes....

I am delighted to see that you think it is okay to call me ignorant. I have not made comments like this about posters in this thread who do not share my opinion, neither have I insulted them.

Simply defending FB's right to make these jokes does not mean that I go around insulting people/ making a fool of deisabled people/ etc. Neither do any of the people thatI know who like FB. I have a good friend with a LO with Downs and my Mum also died of cancer so some of his subject matter is very close to home to me.

We go to see a lot of stand up and yes, many of the jokes are still based on stereotypes. And he was not making racist jokes so you cannot compare the two.

 

[indy and lara]

No-one has said they have laughed at that on this thread, but people have laughed at it. However, people have said 'I like him', 'I think he's funny' etc. without adding something like 'however, he has gone too far with these jokes and I won't be watching him again' and people on this thread have been excusing his behaviour by saying 'it's just abjoke'. Only, it's not just a joke, it's encouraging sterotypes that are incorrect.
.

The vast majority of comedy is based on stereotypes- the dumb blonde, the lazy student, the thick toff, the tight fisted Scot. The list goes on and on. I appreciate that people do not like him but others do and I am not sure that they should have to apologise for this.

As I said on the other thread, I do like Frankie Boyle and have since I first saw him about 12 years ago. I also said that I didn't find this joke funny- it was made on his tour earlier in the year so has been in the public domain for quite a long time now. However, I do not agree with censoring comedians. Who decides what is right or wrong?

Is it these days though? I rather thought we'd moved on from that and comedy generally had a more 'intelligent' and original feel to it now.

As for 'we shouldn't censor'. Are racist jokes OK then? As I said, I doubt Ch. 4 would be defending his right to come out with racist crap, so why is this seen as OK?

Because who decides what is right and what is not? He didn't tell a racist joke hence C4 defending him.

 

[ILoveShoes]

I agree 100% with Indy and Lara.

 

[BabyJayne]

I didn't find the joke funny - but it did not offend me and it won't stop me watching Frankie Boyle. If I was Jordan, maybe I would think differently. But I'm not. I will not apologise for saying that I would watch him again either. He makes jokes about cancer. My mum died of cancer. But I still have the ability to see that he is not making a joke about my mum or my situation.

Quite right Indy and lara - should we appoint a "comedy prefect" who can decide what we should and shouldn't tell jokes about? It's like that famous quote "I do not agree with what you say, but will defend to the death your right to say it". Censoring is a dangerous route to go down!

I am sorry about your Mum. There is a fundamental difference though between making jokes about cancer and and making jokes about/belittling those with disabilities. People in general don't think cancer sufferers are stupid or shouldn't be a part of society, yet people do think that about disabled people and people with Downs Syndrome. A lot of that is because of the sterotypes.

However, I don;t know why I am suprised people find it acceptable. I don't really let what ignorant people think bother me, but a friend of mine is rather more fragile and rarely takes her disabled son out because she cannot deal witht he spiteful and nasty comments made by people every single time she goes out. If there are enough people in society to make spiteful comments about someones disabld child in front of them, why wouldn't there be enough to laugh at Frankie Boyle's jokes....

Why is there a fundamental difference? The joke was not about disabled people not being part of society. In fact the joke doesn't mention disability. It's other people who are picking up on the disability connotation. And believe me, people do stop and stare when they see a woman with no hair walking through Tesco. People do point and make comments. I'm sorry - I do not see the difference, and cannot see why making a cancer joke is "okay" in your view, but a joke about Harvey is not. What gives people more right to be offended by that joke than by a cancer joke. It doesn't make sense.

If you are talking about avoiding all controversial subjects, then maybe we should just have "knock knock" and "doctor doctor" jokes. In my view, as I have said, that particular joke was not funny. But if FB wants to tell it, then so be it. I am not going to get offended on someone else's behalf.