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E-mailJudge for yourself. What do you think of Tommy Tiernan's 'anti-Jewish' tirade
Irish comic forced to apologize after Archbishop of Dublin speaks out
Judge for yourself. Did Irish comedian Tommy Tiernan take his joke too far when he went on an offensive Holocaust tirade at the Electric Picnic festival in Ireland?
The Irishman has now been forced to apologize for his appalling behavior after a storm of protest broke out and even the Archbishop of Dublin criticized him publicly for his so-called Jewish joke.
Speaking at mass on Tuesday, Archbishop Diarmuid Martin said Tiernan's September 5 rant, when he described Jews as "F---ing Christ-killing b**tards," was "offensive to all who feel revulsion concerning the Holocaust."
Archbishop Martin said Tiernan's comments, at the Electric Picnic festival in County Laois, helped trivialize the Holocaust, which "can be as hurtful as denial."
The Holocaust Educational Trust of Ireland has also weighed into the debate. It described Tiernan's joke as "racist comments" and said it was also concerned "about the audience's reaction, which appears to have endorsed, sustained and enjoyed his comments."
Tiernan's remarks sparked fury among Jewish groups after the Sunday Tribune ran a story on them this weekend.
They reported Tiernan's response at a Q&A session at the Electric Picnic after he was asked how he dealt with people who were offended by his routines.
Tiernan described how a Jewish couple had come up to him after a gig in New York to complain about a joke about the death of Christ which ends with the punchline: "Well, it wasn't the f*cking Mexicans."
Tiernan said their complaint was "singleminded" and "righteous."
He then launched into his now infamous tirade in which he said: "These Jews, these f*cking c***s come up to me, Christkilling bastards. F*cking six million? I would have got 10 or 12 million out of that, no problem. F*ck them. Two at a time, they would have gone. Hold hands, get in there. Leave us your teeth and your glasses."
Ireland's Alan Shatter, the sole Jewish representative in parliament, said Tiernan's tirade was "disgusting and unacceptable."
A chastened Tiernan has released a statement on his Web site in which he apologizes for his controversial comments, but still defends himself, saying his words were taken out of context.
"I would like to say that as a private individual I am greatly upset by the thought that these comments have caused hurt to others as this was never my intention; yet, the Electric Picnic public interview with Hot Press Magazine has been taken so far out of context that I am quite bewildered,” he writes.
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