Jimmy Carr criticised for 'disturbing' Holocaust joke about Traveller community

Comedian Jimmy Carr has faced criticism for a “disturbing” joke about the Traveller community and the Holocaust.

In a clip that has been shared widely on social media, the comedian has been condemned for his remarks suggesting that Travellers being murdered during the Holocaust was of the “positives”.

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 clip was taken from Netflix stand-up special Jimmy Carr: His Dark Material whose description says Carr “finds humour in the darkest of places.

His joke was met with applause and laughs from the audience at the time of filming, but has been deeply condemned online.

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The Traveller Movement, a charity that works in partnership with Traveller communities, wrote: “This is truly disturbing and goes way beyond humour. We need all your support in calling this out.”

Another person wrote: “I am sickened to my stomach and will never watch this heathen of a man again.

“The suffering and horrors that these ppl, men, women and little children experienced and he gets a cheap laugh out of it. You disgust me.”

Someone else argued: “Disgusting. If you can’t make people laugh without being horrendously outrageous and offensive, you’re not a comedian.”

Another wrote: “disgusting. how is anti-traveller hatred so normalised.”

Someone else agreed, writing: “the kind of racism that is normalised towards the GRT [Gypsy, Roma and Traveller] community in this country still somehow manages to shock me every time.

“imagine saying this about *literally* any other minority group.”

Netflix declined indy100's request for comment.

Indy100 has contacted representatives of Carr for comment.

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