Conan condemned as 'racist' by Canadian gov't!

Dan

Senior Member
Aug 28, 2003
3,928
161
48
Aiken, SC
Maybe this should go in the Canada forum, but whatever.

I love Conan, I think he's got the best late-night show on right now. Canadian officials seem to be really sensitive about jokes made at their country's expense, remember their protests over South Park: Bigger, Longer, and Uncut (very very funny, BTW!)? How about when they protested Tom Green when he burned a Canadian flag on his show. Come to think of it, that was really funny as well.

Point is, take a joke, Quebec! Triumph the Insult Comic Dog makes fun of everyone in this country, too, and it's hilarious!


OTTAWA (Feb. 14) - Canada's government on Friday condemned a show by U.S. late-night television host Conan O'Brien that insulted people in French-speaking Quebec and seemed to suggest everyone in the province was homosexual.

Ottawa and the province of Ontario paid $760,000 to help O'Brien -- who appears on the NBC television network -- bring his show to Toronto for a week to boost the city's profile after a deadly SARS outbreak last year.

But the federal government said O'Brien had gone too far with the show broadcast on Thursday in which he went to Quebec, a province which has had separatist governments for much of the last 20 years and is a delicate political topic in Canada.

"We want to disassociate ourselves from the comments which were broadcast last night because we do not support them in any way," junior government minister Mauril Belanger told Parliament.

At one point in the show, Triumph the Insult Comic Dog -- a hand puppet that is a regular on the show -- said to a Quebecer: "You're French, you're obnoxious and you no speekay English." It told another: "I can smell your crotch from here".

O'Brien's team were also shown replacing street signs in the province with those that read "Quebecqueer Street" and "Rue des Pussies".

Alexa McDonough, a legislator for the left-leaning New Democrats, described the program as "racist filth" and "utterly vile" and demanded the government seek the return of the C$1 million subsidy.

"There may be those who would say, 'Isn't this interfering with freedom of expression?' It's not interfering to say we will not publicly fund this kind of vile, vicious hatemongering," McDonough told reporters.

Belanger did not commit to asking for the money back.

Peter Soumalias, a Toronto businessman who helped bring the show to the city, said the sketch was just a joke and called the furor a "tempest in a teapot."

"Quebec is the home of some great comics and comedians," he said. "They understand comedy."


"Quebec is the home of some great comics and comedians. They understand comedy."
-Peter Soumalias, a Toronto businessman

No one at NBC was available for comment.

The complaints over the puppet's comments come on the heels of a similar uproar following criticism of European French-Canadian hockey players on CBC television by the country's best-known sports commentator, Don Cherry.

The "Late Night" show, which taped in Toronto all this week and featured guests such as Jim Carrey and Mike Myers, was broadcast in Canada by CHUM television, which said it regretted any offense that may have been caused.

"We offer our apology and assurance that it is never our intention to air programming that offends any of our viewers," the station said in a statement.

Triumph the Insult Comic Dog has landed in trouble before, most famously when it had an altercation with rap singer Eminem at a music awards show in 2002.


02/14/04 09:10 ET
 
seriously. There wan't anything that wasn't derogatory about his humor, about everything. Like the masturbating bear. ? As a (thug)bear I am personally offended that these pc loonies(not meant to be the derogatory term for canadians) have said nothing about this great besmerching of the dignity of the northeastern black bear. Racists./sarcasm
 
This uproar over tasteless comedy is great... FOR ME TO POOP ON!

I mean c'mon, did no one watch the show before inviting him?? Altho somewhat unnescessary, I did like his apology:

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Late-night comedian Conan O'Brien sought to defuse a flap over a recent segment poking fun at the French-Canadian province of Quebec by issuing a self-deprecating "apology" on Tuesday in French.

"People of Quebec, I'm sorry," the host of NBC's "Late Night" show said in English, as a translator recited in French, with English subtitles, "People of Quebec, I'm an albino jackass."


"We meant no harm with our comedy piece the other night," O'Brien continued, "translated" into French as: "The other night, I wet the bed like a little girl."


"I was a stranger in a strange land and I was very insensitive," he went on, with the subtitle: "I have a small penis."
 
My favorite Conan bit of all time is Celebrity Secrets. They get all these stars to give 'confessions' that end up being weird and funny. My 2 favorites (I'm paraphrasing):

Tom Hanks: "At the 1998 Academy Awards, I'm in the bathroom standing at a urinal next to Tom Selleck, and I say 'hey, looks like we're a couple of peeing Toms!' His angry silence is something that I will never forget."

Harrison Ford: "A little kid came up and asked for my autograph, so I gave it to him. He said 'thanks, Mr. Hanks!' so I ripped it up and told him that Tom Hanks was dead."
 
Go over to the Canada section, there are several comments on the issue. And just for the sake of conversation, the people who spoke out the loudest are not French, and have pipe dreams of winning the next election, but I suppose the Premier of Ontario should say something on behalf of those who are offended, but I bet he was laughing on the inside. I must also mention the fact that the rest of Canada calls Quebec Queerbec - I thought they new this:D
 
I must also mention the fact that the rest of Canada calls Quebec Queerbec - I thought they new this

:laugh:So Quebec is your answer to San Francisco, huh?

I think it's so funny that all this came about as a result of the comments of a PUPPET!!! and a cheap-looking puppet at that.
 
My thoughts exactly. I don`t think Quebecers are queer, Queerbec is just a good play on the name - sort of like Dick the Prick, or Juicy Lucy. Dick may not be a prick, and Lucy may not be juicy, but it rhymes nonetheless. You should hear Ed the Sock, he`s worse, and no one cares, not even femi-nazi`s - maybe it`s because he`s a freeken` SOCK

PS: Vancouver has more in common with San Francisco than the province Quebec:D
 
Ed the Sock, did they used to have that on MuchMusic sometimes? Back when I had satellite, we got that channel, and it was from Canada, they had a sock puppet that basically talked trash about everything, is this the same one?
 
Yes, the one and only. He`s fairly tame on Much Music, but he appears on another show, and is quite raunchy. He still does his yearly formage video - cheesiest videos of the year on MM, which is really funny.
 

Forum List

Back
Top