Is it OK to laugh at the Paralympics?
Telling jokes about the Paralympics is a risky business, but ask a Paralympian whether or not they think the Paralympics should be joked about and the answer is almost unanimously ‘Yes’.
“My friends are always asking if I’ve tried any other sports and obviously I’m not very good at the hurdles,” chuckles the ParalympicsGB Wheelchair Rugby team captain Steve Brown, who is paralysed from the chest down. “I’ve heard that one about a million times. Also, in Beijing some of my team members took the brail stickers off the lift buttons. Haha! Actually, that was quite mean.”
His team mate Ross Morrison concurs: “There should definitely be more Paralympics jokes,” he says. “I know some comedians have gone a bit far in the press recently but we joke about everything else so why not joke about the Paralympics?”
GB table tennis player David Wetherill also agrees: “There’s a lot of banter that flies around in our team. We find it funny taking the mickey out of our own disabilities. If you’re looking at it from the outside in then you might think some of it is a little bit inappropriate – but if we can make light of difficult topics like disability then perhaps it could help the general public get a more rounded perspective on disabled people.”
It seems easy for Paralympians to get away with crude humour about themselves – and humour is often one of the most effective ways to drill down to the crux of difficult issues. If disabled people only talked about each other in a deadly serious manner the whole time, doubtless their lives would be tougher.
But why can’t able-bodied people joke about disabled people in the same way? This week comedian Frankie Boyle found himself in hot water yet again after tweeting Paralympics jokes during the Opening Ceremony of the London 2012 Paralympic Games. His response the next day to those that had complained was:
As Channel 4’s Paralympics blogger, I’ve spent the last two years monitoring almost everything written about the Paralympics on Twitter. What surprised me most about the backlash to Boyle’s jokes was that harsher and more severe jokes than his are tweeted and retweeted dozens of times each day. Rarely do those jokes spark such outrage.
I caught up with Australian one-legged comedian Adam Hills, host of C4Paralympics’s daily highlights show The Last Leg, to find out what makes the perfect Paralympics joke:
Do you think it’s OK to laugh at the Paralympics? Let us know by leaving a comment!
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There are 18 comments on this post
I have to say I’m utterly shocked, Frankie Boyle actually tweeted something funny! (Horse in a wheelchair)
Not only is OK to laugh at the Paralympics, the only way to get through life is to laugh at it. The answer to the question about armless people and bum wiping is very simple, the lovely Japanese have invented a toilet seat with hot and cold running water, and warm air that does it for you. Whats more anyone can buy one and plumb it in to their own toilet.
Being disabled myself, yes i agree this is acceptable at times but there is a line and personally I think channel 4′s Last leg does cross this line most of the times. I am now unable to watch as i find this hurtful. Did The BBC take this mick to this degree of the Olympics. No. I think channel 4 had crossed the line and some of the guests even look hurt at some of the comments being made. I am all for making the paralympics more main stream but this is to much in MY veiw.
I have had M,E for 15 years and would love to be in the Paralympics. I managed a sponsored walk for my local ME self help group, I got twice round my living room table!! If I didnt laugh about it I would cry.
Being an Amputee at first I didnt know how to take the humour then you just get used to it. I have no foot and the guys tell me I only have a scratch where as below knee is just a flesh wound. I love the banter and why not joke about it we joke about everything else if you dont like it its your choice to turn it off or not read it. Oh by the way I dont always dance round in circles
Reply to ‘wheelchairuser’: you make an interesting point re whether BBC took the mick to the same extent with the Olympics. I agree, they didn’t. But I do wonder how much of that difference is related to the C4 vs BBC difference, rather than the Olympics vs Paralympics difference. Shame both weren’t shown on the same channel (whichever) so that a comparison in terms of coverage, presenting, comedy, expertise, enrhusiasm, etc, could be properly made.
So what happens when the Paralympics is finished and people young and old have learnt that it’s ok to laugh at the disabled and where does it stop when people start shouting jokes to disabled people in the street and laughing at them (more than they do already). Nice legacy !
I get the desensitising bit – but the Paralympics does that on its own surely ??!!
I’m loving this comedy element to the Paralympics. There’s always going to be people who are overly sensitive and get offended, but I don’t think you’re doing those people or anyone else any favours by pandering to their sensitivities. Now it will never be okay to ‘make fun’ of a disabled person, but I am pretty sure none of the people involved in the Last Leg want or have done that. When the main people are disabled themselves? I think we need to get away from this feeling of being a victim that people are trying to be hurtful or laugh AT us. This is where divides start to happen because people are too worried they’ll say the wrong thing, so they say nothing at all. I mean, I’d rather be in on the joke than sitting outside of it because it’s a lot more lonely there.
There’s nothing wrong with joking about disability, so long as the joke actually is good enough to be funny. BUT we are living through a time of state, media and public abuse of the sick, dying and disabled. It’s not surprising that there’s suspicion of an able bodied joke teller’s motivation. Are they laughing with or at? I think it’s good that people pause to think about whether a joke is “deserving” of a laugh, particularly while popular opinion is that sick, dying and disabled are not “deserving” of benefits or care services.
To be fair, you can only laugh ‘with’ someone if those people are willing to laugh. I’m a firm believer in something is only as offensive as you let it be. I mean sticks and stones may break my bones but… but words will never get me in the paralympics. ;D
“But why can’t able-bodied people joke about disabled people in the same way? ”
for the same reason that a white guy making a joke about black people is not a good idea, or a man making a joke about women. It’s about context and the joke teller; about irony and juxtaposition. Someone who is part of the majority making an offensive joke about someone in the minority could go badly wrong. Someone from within the minority making a joke about themselves is different.
is it ok to fancy Alex Brooker ??- he’s lovely….
I thought I would be amused, which I was for a time at the humour in Channel 4′s “The Last Leg with Adam Hills. However the vulgar penis joke on Saturday night offended me. I will not watch the show again. The show had quickly become a vehicle for gross male humour not suitable for viewing by mixed aged and gender audiences. Do the sponsors such as Sainsbury’s know of this? They will not be willing to offend their customers with this vulgar display of humour.
I think the problem with the Last Watch is that it’s all a bit clunky and forced – just not very funny. And all very lads humour – a bit crass and crap really. Weak is the word I’m searching for. Penis and wank – hahahah not.
It’s hard to work out why they aren’t in the stadium or have a view of the games – but I suppose that comes down to money.
I’d far rather a discussion about who gets to race against whom – because winners and losers are chosen by their selection for a category.
Anyway, I’m loving the Paralympics themselves, and it certainly is opening my eyes as to how much harder life is without hands, limbs, sight or hearing.
I felt sorry for the Chinese athlete who had just won a sprint gold when a massive cheer went up. Being unsighted she thought it might be for her. But it was for the Brit who had won silver. She looked a bit down, and who can blame her.
All the best,
El B
Do people who are disabled not have a sense of humor? Is it more likely that some will laugh,some will shake their heads and some will be offended. Like everyone?
Like a joke about anything, context and intent are important, but really the only important thing is that its funny.
Lets all stop getting offended at the little things.
Like everyone, I am bloody hooked to these games. Spending hours a day watching sport I have never been interested in before. Every day there is a story that blows your mind, and makes you feel a little better about the world.
[...] But Hills’ success can by no means be attributed to just his disability. It’s also that he’s as open to the potential awkwardness of the subject matter as anyone else. There is no one-legged elephant in the room – it’s slap-bang in the middle of the table. This is a show joking about disability and er … is that OK? [...]
[...] But Hills’ success can by no means be attributed to just his disability. It’s also that he’s as open to the potential awkwardness of the subject matter as anyone else. There is no one-legged elephant in the room – it’s slap-bang in the middle of the table. This is a show joking about disability and er … is that OK? [...]
[...] On the heels of some comedic controversy around UK comic Frankie Boyle’s embrace of the Paralympics with a barrage of jokes on his Twitter stream, Channel 4’s Paralympic blogger James Ballardie posted “Is it OK to laugh at the Paralympics?” [...]