Comedian Jimmy Carr should not be allowed to perform in Cardiff after he made and failed to apologise for comments about the Gypsy, Roma, and Traveller community, according to Plaid Cymru leader Adam Price. The TV star's rescheduled Terribly Funny show is due to take place at Cardiff's St David's Hall on March 28.
In his Netflix special His Dark Material Carr said: "When people talk about the Holocaust they talk about the tragedy and horror of six million Jewish lives being lost to the Nazi war machine. But they never mention the thousands of Gypsies that were killed by the Nazis. No-one ever wants to talk about that because no-one ever wants to talk about the positives."
It was widely condemned by charities and politicians. The Holocaust Memorial Day Trust – a charity founded by the government to support the UK’s national commemoration day – said the jokes were "abhorrent". A Cardiff Welsh Romani Gypsy family recently shared the vile abuse they shared.
Read more: Paddy Doherty and David Baddiel blast Jimmy Carr's 'grotesque' Holocaust joke
The comments were brought up in the Senedd on Tuesday, March 22, with Plaid Cymru leader Adam Price saying Carr should be banned from performing at St David's Hall – a venue owned and managed by Cardiff council. On Carr's agent's website it says the following about the show: "Jimmy’s brand new show contains jokes about all kinds of terrible things. Terrible things that might have affected you or people you know and love but they’re just jokes – they are not the terrible things. Having political correctness at a comedy show is like having health and safety at a rodeo. Now you’ve been warned, buy a ticket."
Mr Price asked the First Minister: "While the spectre of fascism is stalking Europe again the comedian Jimmy Carr is still refusing to apologise for implying that the deaths of hundreds of thousands of Gypsies at the hands of the Nazis was somehow something to be celebrated. Next Monday he is performing in our capital city at St David's Hall. Welsh Gypsies are asking the venue to cancel the performance in solidarity with them. St David's Hall is owned and managed by Cardiff Council and subsidised by the Arts Council of Wales, which the Welsh Government funds.
"As First Minister, and indeed as leader of the Labour Party in Wales, will you ask the Labour leadership of Cardiff Council to agree to the Gypsy, Roma, and Traveller communities' entirely reasonable demand, in the circumstances, that no publicly-funded venue should be a platform for an unrepentant purveyor of racist tropes? If they refuse to do so will you ask the arts council to urgently review the terms of its funding?"
The First Minister said the views of Mr Carr were "absolutely unacceptable". He said the Senedd has spoken at length about concerns for Gypsy and Traveller communities. "If it were as simple as issuing an edict and putting things right then of course we would be able to do that but I know from what I have heard from Cardiff council that it simply isn't as easy as that," he said. "The views expressed are abhorrent to my colleagues in Cardiff council, as they are to all of us here, and I'm sure that those sentiments will be powerfully conveyed."
Protesters have gathered at subsequent gigs held by Mr Carr in Southampton and Cambridge. Jimmy Carr has been contacted for comment.
A spokesman for the venue said: "Following the comments made by Jimmy Carr in his Netflix show, St David’s Hall has been in touch with Jimmy Carr’s management. Whilst we have no direct control of artistic content, we have been assured that the show he will perform does not repeat any material from Mr Carr’s offending Netflix special.
"Cardiff Council and St David’s Hall understands and shares the deep offence and distress Jimmy Carr’s comments caused to the Romani and Traveller community. To demonstrate our support for the community we will be lighting the St David’s Hall fins in the colours of the Romani Flag on the evening of the performance."
