Comedian Frankie Boyle Won't Apologize for "Retard" Jokes
Maybe that sounded like a rhetorical question.
If you are a fan of Frankie Boyle, or had the unfortunate accident of seeing his new television show, laughing at my daughter, May, is part of the entertainment.
I say “laughing at May,” but Boyle performs jokes at her expense and the expense of all disabled children. He gets to the heart of what is so funny about a sweet, adorable child like May – namely that she is a waste of space. Or, worse, as he described Katie Price’s disabled son, Harvey, a rapist.
I don’t struggle with the idea that Freedom of Speech should be restricted. Frankie Boyle can say what he likes (and, here, Paul Saxton of Maggie and Alice says it much more eloquently than I).
What disturbs me more is that the audience laughed at the joke. People feel it is okay to laugh at the idea that a disabled child is a rapist.
Less than two years ago, after May’s brain-damage was discovered, I thought our struggle would be her. Not so. Never so. She is the easy part.
I struggle with limits of people’s integrity. I find it demoralizing that so many people I encounter with May – nursery managers, flight attendants, budget administrators (all of whom you can read about on this blog) – are unsympathetic, dismissive, and, sometimes, even cruel.
May is more capable, at her age and with her brain, of understanding the roots of joy and pleasure, as well as pain and frustration, than Frankie Boyle’s audience of adults. Let him say what he will. But, when he does so, stand up and chuck your beer in his face. At the very least, stand up and walk out.
Originally, I thought Boyle was relying on his limited audience’s base loathing of glamour model Katie Price, that she was the joke and her son just the means to achieve it. But, Boyle has a longer history of slating the most vulnerable children in society.
In April of this year, a mother posted a blog (no longer available) of her experience seeing one of Frankie Boyle’s shows. In it, he made fun of children with Down’s syndrome, especially disturbing to her, as her son has the condition.
According to The Telegraph, “Mrs. Smith’s husband, Kieron, said he was stunned by Boyle’s jokes. “He frequently used words like ‘Mongoloid’. He did impressions of the way people with Down’s syndrome talk. One of his jokes was, ‘Why is it that everyone with Down’s syndrome has bowl haircuts and bad clothes?’ He came back three times to the idea that people with Down’s syndrome die early.“
Here is the BBC’s account of the event:
“Mrs. Smith said that during the whole segment her heart was racing and she wanted to cry but that most of the audience were laughing as far as she was aware.
She said Boyle noticed her talking to her husband and asked them what they were saying.
She wrote on her blog: “I told him that my five-year-old daughter has Down’s syndrome and that I was simply upset at some of his jokes.”
“He tried to laugh it off – ‘Ah, but it’s all true, isn’t it? Everything I have said is true, isn’t it?’ To which I replied, ‘No, it wasn’t’.“
Boyle didn’t learn his lesson then, and he won’t learn it now. His publicist is probably wringing his hands and drooling over all this free copy. I even questioned whether I should give him this tiny bit more.
But, I won’t have anyone laughing at my baby.
Stacie Lewis writes the blog Mama Lewis and the Amazing Adventures of the Half-Brained Baby
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Hindi jokes Shayari makes it so simple, fill your emotions into it and guess what your love accepts you whole heartedly.In todays fast paced and stressful lifes,it is important to seek some sort of entertainment or stressbuster. are an easy way of releving Stress.
Did you actually watch FB or did you hear about it and then watch it to complain ala the Brasseye Paedophile Special?
No, I don't hate your child. But I defend my right to laugh at what I find funny. Sick? Yeah, maybe. But who is to be the judge? I find Jeremy Clarkson to be loathesome and offensive. Should I campaign for him to be silenced?
I'm an American who's loved here for 30 years and I *could* build a grudge list against the (mainstream) media and "the great British public" - or I could get on with my life and laugh at the load of frakwits (yes, *you* Britain) I meet on a daily basis.
Grow a pair.
I also agree with this article. I myself love banter, and have a very controversial sense of humour. However, I draw the line as suggesting a young boy with learning and developmental difficulties would sexually abuse his mother. It isn't a case of needing to 'get a sense of humour', and anyone who finds this low-level, desperate attempt to get a laugh 'the best kind' of comedy should develop a little more insight. I would say Frankie Boyle's target audience have been successfully, well, targeted.
Intelligent humour doesn't rely on appallingly offensive suggestions, nor jokes about a child raping his own mother, nor laughing at people with Down's Syndrome. Intelligent humour relies solely on its audience being as intelligent as the joke. Which is rare.
To say people with Down's Syndrome are never going to get 'better' and therefore we should be able to laugh at them demonstrates a very low level of comprehension of the fact people with learning difficulties still have feelings and emotions and suffer from enough discrimination without being publicly humiliated and made a joke of.
Finally, so he made a distasteful joke about his own daughter, suddenly that makes all his other offensive slurs acceptable? No, of course not. That just makes him even more desperate.
I am a Speech and Language Therapist and I work daily with people with all sorts of communication difficulties, their struggle is greater than ours, and I'm ashamed to live in a culture where that's a source of entertainment.
sounds like a no talent prick, but I think it's a waste of effort to extract an apology from him. He wouldn't mean it, and you won't feel much better.
Pricks are always apologizing for stuff they aren't sorry for. He'll always be forgiven by other pricks, who love that kind of thing, and he may make lots of money, but he'll never understand what it means to make a decision based on right and wrong, because, well,... He's a no talent prick.
If it makes you feel any better, I love your child. Some of those people with retardation are some of the sweetest people on earth. So what if jerks can't see that?
They're the ones missing out. Truth be told, I think anyone who doesn't have enough conscience to abstain from making fun of retarded children is what I call a "spiritual retard." A guy with no conscience, and no spiritual awareness is more of a "tard" than any innocent down's person.
This all just boils down to you getting easily offended because you feel so strongly about your daughter, y'think you're the only person who's been offended by frankies comedy? get off your high horse, you don't wanna hear offensive comedy then don't go around looking for it so you can try and grab your fifteen minutes, you're pathetic.
You've completely undermined your argument, you say if you don't want to hear offensive comedy then don't go around looking for it. Well, if you don't like the comments that this woman has made then don't go looking for them.....You've completely undermined your argument by commenting on this article in the first place.
And this is not someone looking for her 15 mins, this is someone who wishes to express their opinion on such matters, and she is not alone, and there is nothing wrong with this under such a thing as "Freedom of Speech."
However, you have also underminded your own argument too as you have commented also on this topic and must have been looking for ways to slander Frankie Boyle, so I'll fire that comment back onto you...For you to say that they have underminded the argument by simply disagreeing with the article is just plain stupid and is just a childish way to attempt to win a debate.
At the end of the day, we have people like us who take all jokes light hearted and never take them seriously....and then the world has moaning b*sterds like you, who winge about everything. You are probably one of these people who watch youtube videos you don't like and then write negative stuff about them...
I completely agree with what you are saying.
People may say "if you don't like it, don't watch it" well the fact of the matter is that these "jokes" are still being made. It is downright wrong and disgusting for a "joke" to be made which targets an innocent child due to his disability.
People who claim this "joke" to be acceptable are saying that disability is something that should be made the butt of a joke, which is not acceptable. This child has done nothing wrong and should not be treated in this manner because he is, as some people say, "different."
There are comedians out there, such as Jimmy Carr, who do make offensive jokes but they are tactful in the way they make the joke, not letting the offensive aspect be the sole basis of the joke. What Frankie said was derive of tact, or indeed humour. I cannot get my mind around how any human can find this "joke" acceptable, let alone funny.
If you dont like it, sont watch it, simple as that. Its part of his shok factor entertaintment, you see rape in films and in books, so why cant it be used as part of a comedy shock factor? He didnt call harvey a rapist directly and youve twisted it, its people like you that like causing and starting sxxt. Frankie doesnt mean to offend anyone, he even made a bad taste joke about his own daughter. Incase you hav'nt guessed, hes manily poking fun at how people will react like yourselves. Get on with your own lives and if you dont like it, dont watch it. Bernard manning was a great comddian with the same sort of style as frankie as well.
All I can say is, to anyone who finds him offensive, don't watch his TV show or stage shows, people should know what to expect when they see a Frankie Boyle show and should have will power not to watch it, so that people who do like his shows, can watch it without worrying if he's going to be sacked from TV because of complaints.
Get a sence of humour cause an on edge comedian is the best kind, and anyone who phones or writes in complaints, is clearly as retarded as the children he's poked fun of