He’s a comedian. Get over it. Good gawd, what a nation of lady parts we’ve become.

Let that be a warning to the Geico gekko .

NEW RULE: Comedians should refrain from making jokes about disasters until the imminent danger is over and people have stopped dying.

Those jokes are actually a little humorous but like with everything in comedy it’s all about timing.

I really wonder what is going through the minds of average Japanese people when they see all the jokes us Americans are cracking about their tragedy. For one of the few times in my life, I’d have to agree with foreigners for saying that Americans are a bunch of assholes.

BFD said:
NEW RULE: Comedians should refrain from making jokes about disasters until the imminent danger is over and people have stopped dying.

Those jokes are actually a little humorous but like with everything in comedy it’s all about timing.

That sounds reasonable. I’d like to add that people aren’t allowed to pretend to be offended unless they have been clinically proven to have actually been offended…by a non-partisan Doctor…or a lie detecting machine.

OxyCon said:
I really wonder what is going through the minds of average Japanese people when they see all the jokes us Americans are cracking about their tragedy. For one of the few times in my life, I’d have to agree with foreigners for saying that Americans are a bunch of assholes.

Yeah, I bet that’s at the top of their list of concerns right about now. “Hey, did you see what Gilbert Gottfried said?”

lonestar77 said:
Yeah, I bet that’s at the top of their list of concerns right about now. “Hey, did you see what Gilbert Gottfried said?”

It isn’t just Gottfied, (who cracks me up most of the time). There’s alot of it going on and most of it is being said on social media sites, which the majority of Japanese people can still readily access. And even if they couldn’t, that changes things, how?

I’m sure if the Japanese came up with a game show where you either have to run for your life out of a burning skyscraper or jump to you death from the top of it while planes are smashing into it, that wouldn’t go over so well here.

OxyCon said:
It isn’t just Gottfied, (who cracks me up most of the time). There’s alot of it going on and most of it is being said on social media sites, which the majority of Japanese people can still readily access. And even if they couldn’t, that changes things, how?

I’m sure if the Japanese came up with a game show where you either have to run for your life out of a burning skyscraper or jump to you death from the top of it while planes are smashing into it, that wouldn’t go over so well here.

Maybe. But, very little offends me. I think comedy is helpful for the most part..unless it’s just mean-spirited…and none of what he said was mean-spirited. Too often people search for things to take offense to and that really gets on my nerves. Maybe it’s too soon but to fire the guy over it is insane. We’ve become too politically correct.

FWIW, I think Gottfried is annoying and I’ve never found him all that funny.

lonestar77 said:
Maybe. But, very little offends me. I think comedy is helpful for the most part..unless it’s just mean-spirited…and none of what he said was mean-spirited. Too often people search for things to take offense to and that really gets on my nerves. Maybe it’s too soon but to fire the guy over it is insane. We’ve become too politically correct.

I’m the same way. In fact I’d have to say that when it comes to comedy, my maturity level is about that of a 12 year old (big Adam Sandler fan). I don’t have have a big problem with maybe cracking a joke to a friend or family member, but to do so in a way that the Japanese people can see and hear it, especially since they’re still in shock and many are still fighting for their lives and racing against the clock at the nuclear plants is just so wrong. I’m not the kind of person that goes looking for reasons to be outrageously outraged either, but this is about as appropriate as those Westboro loons protesting at funerals.

That’s why Gottfried is famous for making tasteless jokes.

Aflac is looking out for it’s bottom line, and that’s fine. Gottfried will become even more famous and beloved by other comedians, and that’s fine too.

Well that seals it for me . . . I’ll NEVER do business with AFLAC.

I feel sorry for what the Japanese are going through. We could have something like that here on our shores any day (yes I’m talking about you Cali – and yet I still intend to move there), but Gottfried is one of the nicest guys in the world and one of the funniest dudes ever to get behind a microphone.

So AFLAC – where were you when Gilbert made any one of a number of off-color jokes at the many broadcast roasts he’s done?

AFLAC – where were you when Gilbert was on Howard Stern doing the funniest bit I’ve ever heard “Dice Gottfried” and making Bindy joke after Bindy Joke after her Father died? I mean if you were gonna pounce as the ‘insensitivity police’ that was your opportunity – but AFLAC knows how damn funny that bit was. They were all laughing.

And my hunch is AFLAC was in tears laughing at those jokes cited above as well, until someone called and complained. Then AFLAC, like the spineless corporate weasels they are caved like beach house in Miyagi prefecture during a tsunami.

Gilbert made the AFLAC duck famous. Now we’ll have some lame imitator (like the guy from the Geico commercials).

1) As the voice of the duck, I wonder if he’s had a recording session in years or it’s more like they are going to stop the flow of residuals for his previous work.

2) I’ve said something similar in response to another recent situation, but if it weren’t for the added publicity of his firing and flogging (for what looks like pretty innocuous jokes) few would’ve heard about the situation. Now, instead of it just being a handful of tweets that may or may not have entertained his 54k Twitter follower’s, they’ll be repackaged into headlines for millions to see.

He should have just attacked some conservative women or their kids. He would have been applauded.

The Lantern of Truth said:
Let that be a warning to the Geico gekko .

It wasn’t the gekko, but the Geico spokesperson voiceover guy got sanctioned for his political diatribes.

I have never been a Gilbert Gottfried fan….Just Saying!

Magister . . . oh he was still doing recording sessions. And there is no way (unless he doesn’t fight) that he won’t get paid for the residuals . . . unless Geico gets real nasty and overdubs all the existing campaigns with the new voice they are on the hunt for. And even then, it depends on the wording of his personal services contract, which he MUST have had.

He’s a comedian that makes a living making thoroughly

BFD said:
NEW RULE: Comedians should refrain from making jokes about disasters until the imminent danger is over and people have stopped dying.

Nah. No rules for comedy is what makes it fun.

@BigLeagues: According to my memory and a Google, AFLAC started deemphasizing the duck in ’04 and the commercials generally went from the duck saying the company name multiple times to just once and often it’s not seen. Also, they aren’t using his voice in the Japanese market, so someone would have to draw a line from the comedian to the company for the Japanese people, which they obviously did.

I don’t know that he’s still doing recording sessions and I actually find it doubtful. For the past few years, I’d say that most of their commercials haven’t shown the duck and instead, you just get Gottfried’s voice at the end, but even if my memory is faulty, it wouldn’t be difficult to cut an impersonator’s voice into the track.

And finally, insurance is sold on trust. You pay x amount every month because you trust that the company will be there in your time of needs. I’m sure it’s for that reason that AFLAC (and previously GEICO) have been overly sensitive to anything that could cause offense.

Glad to see a line drawn. The world is getting “too tolerant” about too many things. There still are things that are disrespectful and insensitive.

1 in 4 Japanese households have Aflac insurance.

Gilbert just earned himself a DMF award for 2011.
It’s not about “politically correct”, it’s not about cultural insensitivity.
All comedy is about TIMING! (Bah-Dum-Dum!)
Gilbert’s timing could NOT have been worse.
It happens, it can be survived.
For now, he should apologize; and disappear.
Maybe a fund-raiser, but low-key.
TIMING IS EVERYTHING!

@Joseph Glackin: It’s Gilbert Gottfried. He’ll make a few jokes and probably a few will revolve around doing rude things to ducks. It means he’ll get one less paycheck in a couple of months, but I wouldn’t hold my breath for an apology, a fundraiser or for him to do much else than he’s always done.

Dang, I remember enjoying “Up All Night” hosted by this guy. Campy movies & popcorn.

While Mr. Gotfreid’s remarks “may” have been over the line (I didn’t read them), and he should have been fired if they were, the fact remains that political correctness will be the end of us all.

Gottfried.

Humor is the basic means of dealing with catastrophe. Humor is what keeps us sane in a strangely discordant world. Good taste or bad taste… funny is funny…. And humor is how we keep from blowing our collective brains out.

Was what amounts to a series of “naughty” knock knock jokes really all that worth it, Gil?

I love Gilbert but personally, once the death toll exceeded that of Pearl Harbor it was time to lay off. That was my yardstick anyway.

OxyCon said:
I really wonder what is going through the minds of average Japanese people when they see all the jokes us Americans are cracking about their tragedy. For one of the few times in my life, I’d have to agree with foreigners for saying that Americans are a bunch of assholes.

I’m sure they see the insensitivity of Americans and then they go back to making their cute little schoolgirl bukkakke videos.

OxyCon said:
For one of the few times in my life, I’d have to agree with foreigners for saying that Americans are a bunch of assholes.

You should read about the Bataan Death March.