Carr's Gag still causing offense

Reading Carole Malone's little rant in the News of the World today, I felt obliged to deliver my own personal response.

I was going to leave this issue, it is no longer a news story, however newspapers are determined to milk the story by continually printing opinion pieces on the matter.

For those of you who don't know, then basically the comedian Jimmy Carr got in trouble for cracking a joke about amputees who have been injured in war.

At a gig in Manchester he said to the crowd "Say what you want you like about those servicemen amputees from Iraq and Afghanistan but we're going to have a f***ing good Paralympics team in 2012."

As expected there was a huge uproar from the media and politicians who branded the joke as "sick". After reading the story and hearing the joke, I myself was appalled.

I was appalled at the over-reaction by the press and everyone else who felt the need to slate a comedian for making a joke.

Jimmy Carr is well known for controversial and outspoken style of comedy. He regularly makes jokes about rape, obesity and the plight in countries such as Africa and the Middle East.

However the tabloids decided to focus on this one particular joke by claiming that Carr "sparked uproar with the remark at a gig."

This of course isn't true. The press caused the uproar by reporting it and if tabloids tell everyone how bad something is, of course there are going to be complaints!

Never mind that Lance Corporal Rory Mackenzie (who lost in leg to a roadside bomb in 2006) came out and said he "laughed out loud" at the gag.

However my main issue lies with the context in which the joke has been told. At a comedy gig, with a performer known for his sometimes outlandish jokes, people cant be expecting not to hear some controversial gags. It is not as if a politician has come out in Parliament and said it.

In her amazingly angry and bitter piece, Malone even brings Carr's income and lifestyle into the matter, comparing his wage with that of a soldier. I fail to see how this has any relevancy to the issue but apparently it is important.

People need to lighten up, just because someone makes a joke about a solider, doesn't mean they are unpatriotic and should be instantly destroyed in the press.

I believe Carr wasn't mocking servicemen and women who have been injured in combat, but bringing to light and underlining the horrific injuries of soldiers on the frontline.

So to people like Carole Malone I say, stop wasting your time with trivial comedy acts. Get out there and do something about bringing to justice the individuals who are blowing our boys limbs off day-in-day-out and save your rants for someone who deserves it.