Comedian and presenter Jimmy Carr
(Picture: PA)Channel 4 has defended a new programme set to air this month which could see Jimmy Carr shred artwork by the likes of Adolf Hitler and Rolf Harris.
Jimmy Carr Destroys Art aims to examine the question of whether “problematic, or controversial art can have a place in public life”.
If the show’s audience should so decide, it could see comedian and presenter Carr destroy pieces of art by infamous figures including Nazi dictator Hitler.
News of the programme was met with backlash this week. The Holocaust Memorial Day Trust accused it of being “dangerously trivialising” and of making Hitler “a topic of light entertainment”.
The organisation’s chief executive, Olivia Marks-Woldman, told the BBC: “There is nothing entertaining or laughable about Hitler or the murder of six million Jews, and the persecution of millions more.
“This is deeply inappropriate, and at a time of increasing Holocaust distortion, dangerously trivialising.”
On Twitter, some users also likened the idea of the show to “book burning”, which saw Nazis torch volumes that did not align with the organisation’s ideologies.
I love C4 but hate this. If you have a problematic artist, explain why and let others make up their mind. Fine, have the debate. But don’t destroy the work. How is that not like book burning?
— Shirls ヘップウオルズー・シルリー (@holmfirthartist) October 13, 2022
https://t.co/1DkBHEOWy1
One wrote: “I love C4 but hate this. If you have a problematic artist, explain why and let others make up their mind. Fine, have the debate. But don’t destroy the work. How is that not like book burning?”
But Channel 4 has defended Jimmy Carr Destroys Art as “a thoughtful and nuanced exploration of the limits of free expression in art, and whether work by morally despicable artists still deserves to be seen”.
“It speaks directly to the current debate around cancel culture and is in a long tradition of Channel 4 programming that seeks to engage a broad audience with the biggest and thorniest ethical and cultural questions” a spokesperson said.
A blurb for the show, which forms part of Channel 4’s Truth & Dare season, says: “In a wider context of culture wars and discord, in which art in public squares and galleries has increasingly become a target, the programme is a unique TV experiment which tests what the public really thinks about controversial artists and offensive art in the most dramatic and visceral way possible.
“Should art be destroyed and artists censured if they cause offence? Can you separate the moral calibre of the artist from the art? Does it matter if a person’s crimes are worse or their art is? Should there be a limit on free expression? And what if the image itself causes offence?”
The programme is due to air on Tuesday, October 25.
