British-Irish comedian Jimmy Carr is facing widespread condemnation for joking that the genocide of gypsies was one of the "positives" of the Holocausts in his new Netflix special.
A clip from Carr's "His Dark Material" has gone viral on social media where the comedian tells the audience to "strap in" ahead of his next joke.
"When people talk about the Holocaust, they talk about the tragedy and horror of six million Jewish lives being lost to the Nazi war machine. But they never mention the thousands of gypsies that were killed by the Nazis," Carr told the audience.
"No one ever talks about that because no one wants to talk about the positives," he continued.
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I don’t know what I should be more gutted or disgusted by here.. the kind of Racism that us GRT people are forced to live with every day.. that’s it’s still absolutely ok to demonise us & our demise as a joke…or the reactions of whooping & cheering from the audience.. pic.twitter.com/nZnJslasX2
— Mikey Walsh (@thatbloodyMikey) February 4, 2022
Olivia Marks-Woldman, the CEO of the Holocaust Memorial Day Trust, condemned the joke in a statement on Twitter.
"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," Marks-Wold said in the statement.
"Hundreds of thousands of Roma and Sinti people suffered prejudice, slave labor, sterilization, and mass murder simply because of their identity - these are not experiences for mockery."
The Holocaust Memorial Day described Carr's remarks as "abhorrent" in a tweet on Friday afternoon.
Meanwhile, the Auschwitz Memorial encouraged Carr to "learn about fate of some 23 thousand Roma & Sinti deported to Auschwitz".
@jimmycarr Learn about fate of some 23 thousand Roma & Sinti deported to Auschwitz.
— Auschwitz Memorial (@AuschwitzMuseum) February 4, 2022
Our online lesson: https://t.co/4oNbsPuWdU
&
podcast about their story: https://t.co/uURtCUYjt7
It's sad to hear words that can fuel prejudice, hurt people & defile memory of their tragedy.
UK anti-racist group HOPE not hate criticized Carr for his remarks and called on Netflix to "take action".
"Hundreds of thousands of Roma and Sinti people were murdered during the holocaust, some research suggests even more. @jimmycarr in a recent segment of his new show, not only minimizes it, he celebrates it." the group said on Twitter.
The Traveller Movement condemned the joke in a separate tweet on Friday and called on Netflix to remove the comedy special from the platform.
"Hi @netflix we ask you to remove 'Jimmy Carr: His Dark Material' from your platform. Joking about the genocide of an ethnic minority is not funny." 7
@jimmycarr Learn about fate of some 23 thousand Roma & Sinti deported to Auschwitz.
— Auschwitz Memorial (@AuschwitzMuseum) February 4, 2022
Our online lesson: https://t.co/4oNbsPuWdU
&
podcast about their story: https://t.co/uURtCUYjt7
It's sad to hear words that can fuel prejudice, hurt people & defile memory of their tragedy.
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