LONDON – When comedy turns into lampoon and stretches into the realm of sarcasm we get people like Frankie Boyle. No civilized society can digest Boyle's jaundiced sarcasm passed in the garb of comedy. But the Scottish comedian went too far a few days ago when he made tasteless Twitter comments about the opening of the Paralympics. The comic's suggestions that Saudi athletes were “mainly thieves” who had their hands cut off for stealing and that a British high jumper's personal best was “Taliban-assisted” sparked fury. He is now facing the axe from Channel 4. “We will wash hands of Frankie now,” a Channel 4 source was quoted as saying by the Daily Mirror Friday. “Frankie has upset a lot of people, his comments are out of touch with the feelings of Britain,” another source was quoted as saying. A spokesman said: “He is not under contract with Channel 4 and we don't have any shows planned with him.” A senior source at Saudi Embassy in London told Al-Hayat Arabic daily that the comic's comments were shocking, unacceptable and against the Paralympics spirit. “We're discussing with a team of lawyers the legal procedures against Frankie Boyle,” the source said. Among those condemning the comments were Olympic silver medallist Lizzie Armitstead, who said: “Frankie Boyle isn't funny.” Valerie Simmonds, the mother of Paralympian swimmer Ellie Simmonds, told a newspaper: “He is just offensive.” Many Twitter users condemned his comments. One praised Channel 4 for its coverage but said: “Shame you have idiots like Frankie Boyle undermining it with tweets poking fun.” Another target of his Twitter jokes was the Queen, who declared the Games open. “The Queen hasn't cracked a smile since Diana died,” Boyle said. What's more upsetting is the fact that Frankie Boyle has defended his controversial comments, saying he was just doing his “job”. On Friday he said: “I'd say my Paralympic tweets are celebratory. I'll be joking about Paralympics same way I joked about the Olympics. That's my job yo.” He also said people should read the jokes and make their own mind up, adding they were “Celebratory, non discriminatory, pretty funny.” But an agitated Saudi youth said that Frankie must realize that his freedom ends where other's nose begins. – With agencies
