A group of protesters outside a Jimmy Carr show in Dunstable on Tuesday evening (8 February) called for the comedian to apologise for his controversial joke about the Holocaust.
Last week, a clip from Carr’s Netflix comedy special His Dark Material circulated on social media, prompting an intense backlash.
In the clip, the comedian says: “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.”
Carr then adds: “No one ever talks about that because no one wants to talk about the positives.”
Boris Johnson, several MPs and the Holocaust Memorial Day Trust are among those who have criticised Carr for his comment and called upon Netflix to remove the special.
The Luton Roma Trust protested with placards outside the Grove Theatre in Dunstable, Bedfordshire, before last night’s show.
Crina Morteanu, who is from the Luton Roma Trust and was at the protest, told the BBC that the charity wanted Carr to ensure he would “never ever repeat this joke in any of his performances”.
She added that if Carr did not apologise, she was “very much convinced that we need to take legal action”.
“He is actually inciting to hate and inciting to violence which is completely unacceptable in this country,” she said.
“If he doesn’t apologise then it means he did not understand why we are here today and we need to make a bigger effort.”
The Grove Theatre told the BBC that Carr’s team assured them the show did not repeat any material from the Netflix special.
“The booking was made long before the recent comments came to light,” a statement said.
“We do not condone the comments made by Mr Carr.
“As a receiving house theatre, the Grove has no direct control of artistic content but we have spoken at length with the production company.”
Carr is yet to issue an official statement on the controversy, but is believed to have tackled the subject after reportedly being heckled by an audience member at another show.
