Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
FURY OVER CHANNEL 4 SHANKILL BOMB JOKE
Social media outrage over show’s IRA jibe
CHANNEL 4 is facing a backlash after posting a clip from a US sitcom that appeared to make a joke referencing the Shankill bomb.
Nine civilians died and 57 were injured when IRA man Thomas Begley, who was also killed by the blast, carried a device into Frizzell’s fish shop.
The intended target of the West Belfast attack on October 23, 1993, was a UDA meeting which was supposed to have been taking place upstairs.
The clip in question, which appeared on the All4’s (Channel 4’s streaming service) Facebook page, was taken from an episode of the US sitcom Black-ish that aired on E4 last week.
In the segment, Dre and Bow Johnston, characters on the show, are discussing their son Junior’s political identity.
Dre says to Bow that they have a problem, as he believes Junior is a republican.
Discussing the definition of a republican, Bow asks Dre: “A member of the Irish Republican Army?”
She then continues: “OK, OK, if you got to take down a couple of fish and chips shops to be free of British rule, Dre you gotta do what you gotta do.”
After the clip was posted, viewers took to social media to express their outrage at the reference.
One said: “Would you please remove that horrible clip describing the IRA and blowing up people? Very upsetting to some Northern Ireland viewers and perhaps the families if they see this.”
Another wrote: “Unbelievable. Absolutely disgusted and sicken by this.”
Belfast councillor Julie-anne Corrjohnston said she had been contacted by upset constituents regarding the clip.
She said: “Flabbergasted having received multiple communications this morning with regards to an American sitcom’s insensitive reference to the Shankill bombing.
“I have contacted Channel 4 this morning and lodged a complaint. There is no comedy to be found in the loss of life let alone one of the most notorious incidents of the Troubles.”
A statement from Channel 4 read: “The clip was taken from the longrunning American sitcom Blackish and was posted on social media, out of the context of the episode, in error and has since been removed. We apologise if any offence has been caused by this clip.”
The offending clip has since been removed from the All4 Facebook page.