Jimmy Carr’s joke about the Holocaust was “deeply disturbing” but it is a matter for Netflix whether the comedian’s show should remain on its streaming service, Downing Street has said.
Last week a joke from Carr’s latest Netflix special, His Dark Material, circulated on social media.
In it, the comedian, 49, speaks about the horror of the Holocaust and “six million Jewish lives being lost” before making a disparaging remark about the deaths of thousands of Gypsies at the hands of the Nazis as a punchline.
The joke prompted criticism from his fellow comedians, such as David Baddiel, and the culture secretary, Nadine Dorries, who suggested bringing in a law to control streaming services.
Boris Johnson’s official spokesman said on Tuesday: “Those comments are deeply disturbing and it’s unacceptable to make light of genocide.”
The government is “toughening measures for social media and streaming platforms who don’t tackle harmful content”, he added.
Asked whether Netflix should pull the show, the spokesman said: “That will be a matter for them. We are clear that mocking the atrocities of the Holocaust is unacceptable.”
The government is focused on “making sure that streaming services are more accountable”, he added.
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Carr, who is known for his stand-up and appearing on TV show 8 Out Of 10 Cats, issued a “trigger warning” to audiences at the start of the one-hour Netflix special and admitted that the performance contained “terrible things”.
A synopsis of the programme described some of the jokes as “career enders”.
According to the Mirror, Carr responded to the controversy during a performance in Whitely Bay in Tyne and Wear, telling gig-goers “the joke that ends my career is already out there” and that he is “going down swinging”.
Last week, the Holocaust Memorial Day Trust and The Auschwitz Memorial condemned the joke.
The Traveller Movement, a charity supporting the traveller community in the UK, has launched a petition calling for Netflix to remove the segment of the programme, which it said “is nothing short of a celebration of genocide”.
