Not so funny
COMIC Roy Chubby Brown is known for courting controversy with his non-politically correct stand-up act.
And, as we reported yesterday, he’s now been barred from performing at a Swansea theatre by the local council as officials say he “doesn’t reflect the authority’s values”.
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But he’s not the only comedian who has caused offence, as NATASHA WYNARCZYK reveals...
CHRIS Morris’s Brass Eye series saw the satirist dupe several celebrities into believing a drug called “cake” was real and perform a controversial love song about Myra Hindley. But the final straw was the show’s 2001 one-off special “Paedogeddon!”, below, which led to 3,000 complaints and sparked debates in Parliament. IN the grip of heroin addiction, Russell Brand turned up to work at MTV the day after 9/11 dressed as AlQaeda founder Osama bin Laden, and was promptly sacked. Seven years later, he was the subject of another row while presenting his BBC Radio 2 show alongside Jonathan Ross. The pair left several lewd voicemails on actor Andrew Sachs’ phone, leading to the BBC receiving a record number of complaints and Brand’s resignation.
RICKY Gervais, right, is known for pulling no punches and has been criticised
by everybody from disability campaigners to religious groups for offensive jokes on his TV and stand-up shows. While hosting the Golden Globes between 2010 and 2012, his acid-tongued barbs at the celebrity audience led to mixed reviews of his performances.
LAST month US comedian Shane Gillis was sacked from hit show Saturday Night Live after comments, including multiple racist and homophobic statements that he had made on his podcast, came to light. Gillis later posted a statement on Twitter where he said he was happy to apologise to anyone who had been offended, but added: “I am trying to be the best comedian I can be and sometimes that requires risks.”
JIM Davidson describes himself as a “homophobic a***hole”, and has faced accusations of racism thanks to his 1970s
character Chalky White, a controversial stereotype of a West Indian man. He has also been called an “abuser of women” due to his treatment of ex-wife Alison Holloway, and in his autobiography he admitted that he’d given her
“a shiner” but added
“just for a giggle she kept blackening it up to make it look worse”. US comic Sarah Silverman is well known for her provocative material, and was fired from a movie after producers discovered a sketch in which she wore a blackface. She has since said she no longer stands by the skit, which saw her putting on face paint to see if it’s harder to be black or Jewish.