Jimmy Carr has been condemned by anti-hate groups including the Holocaust Memorial Day Trust, the Auschwitz Memorial and Hope Not Hate for comments about the Gypsy, Roma and Traveller community in his Netflix special. The show, titled 'His Dark Material', was released on Christmas Day but drew widespread criticism after a clip went viral on Friday.
In the clip, Carr said: '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 that, because no one ever wants to talk about the positives.' The remark was met with laughter and applause from the audience.
The Holocaust Memorial Day Trust described the joke as 'abhorrent'. Its chief executive, Olivia Marks-Woldman, said: 'We are absolutely appalled at Jimmy Carr’s comment about persecution suffered by Roma and Sinti people under Nazi oppression, and horrified that gales of laughter followed his remarks. Hundreds of thousands of Roma and Sinti people suffered prejudice, slave labour, sterilisation and mass murder simply because of their identity – these are not experiences for mockery.'
Hope Not Hate, the UK’s leading anti-fascism and anti-racism campaign group, said: 'Comedy is an amazing tool for progressive change and it’s such a shame that Jimmy Carr decided to use his platform to celebrate the murder of one of the most marginalised groups in society.' The Auschwitz Memorial urged Carr to 'learn about the fate of some 23 thousand Roma & Sinti deported to Auschwitz'.
Labour MP Nadia Whittome wrote to Netflix requesting the removal of the material and called for streaming platforms to be brought under Ofcom regulation. She said: 'In funding, streaming and profiting from this material, Netflix is legitimising and perpetuating racism.' The row comes after Netflix faced backlash over Dave Chappelle's comments about transgender people in his comedy special last year.
