Friday, 29 March, 2024
HomeOn A Lighter NoteTourettes Charity wants comedian to apologise for award-winning joke

Tourettes Charity wants comedian to apologise for award-winning joke

Falafel
Olaf Falafel

A charity for people with Tourette's syndrome has asked a comedian to apologise for his award-winning joke made at the Edinburgh Fringe festival. BBC News reports that Tourettes Action said it was "so disappointed" by Swedish comedian Olaf Falafel's gag, which won Dave’s “Funniest Joke of The Fringe” prize. It said the fact the public voted for the joke showed "how we as a nation deal with people who are different".

The report says Falafel won the award with the gag: "I keep randomly shouting out 'Broccoli' and 'Cauliflower' – I think I might have florets".

The CEO of the UK's Tourettes Action charity said the "rubbish" joke had brought "shame on Dave". Suzanne Dobson said her charity had been about to launch a campaign to stop using Tourette's as a punchline – "which unfortunately has come about a week too late".
"Humour is a great way of educating people – but not only is it not funny to poke fun at people with Tourette's, it's not even that funny a joke, is it?" she said.

[link url="https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-49395718"]BBC News report[/link]

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