Aussie content creatorCarmen Azzopardi has called out UK comedian Paul Foot after a recent comedy show in the UK, where she says he made a string of jokes about diabetes that left her feeling targeted and “deeply sickened”.
Carmen, who is open about living with type one diabetes and regularly shares her experiences online, posted a TikTok video this week describing what went down at the show. She didn’t hold back, explaining how the first half of Foot’s set was already “abysmal”, but things took a turn when he launched into a sketch about type one and type two diabetes.
Carmen is in Europe travelling at the moment. (Image: TikTok / zigs_mom)
“The first 10 minutes, I’m not joking, not funny at all. It was abysmal. It was bad. I was looking at my friend going, ‘oh no’,” Carmen said in her TikTok.
According to Carmen, Foot’s bit involved mocking people with diabetes, making inaccurate claims about the condition, and even mimicking a hypoglycaemic episode on stage. She said he made light of medical devices like CGMs (continuous glucose monitors), suggested people with diabetes have a “victim mentality”, and finished the sketch by “killing off” both the type one and type two diabetic characters.
Carmen filmed some of the set. (Image: TikTok / zigs_mom)
“He inferred that people who wear CGMs or medical tech and still experience hypo or hypoglycaemic episodes are idiots because they don’t know how to use their technology, he inferred people living with diabetes all have a victim mentality — it’s not a real illness. [He inferred that] type one and type two are the exact same — it doesn’t matter,” Carmen explained in the video.
Carmen has been very local about her experience having type one diabetes. (Image: Instagram / zigs_mom)
Carmen didn’t stay quiet. After the set, she called Foot out directly, telling him, “That was a shit joke. It was shit… I have type one diabetes. That was extremely, extremely insensitive.
“I have type one diabetes, I don’t think it’s up to you to decide if it’s insensitive or not.”
Foot reportedly doubled down, insisting the jokes weren’t insensitive and even questioning Carmen’s intellect. He argued that “comedy is subjective”, and said someone from a diabetic society had approved the material — before brushing off the differences between type one and type two diabetes.
(Image: TikTok)
“Comedy is subjective. The point is that everyone would have a different Venn diagram,” Foot said during the exchange, as captured in Carmen’s TikTok.
He also described diabetes as “more of a nuisance than an illness”, and told Carmen she had “failed to grasp a simple concept”, blaming her for the awkwardness in the room.
Replying to @adriana fox also want to preface that it took A LOT for me to stand up for myself and my community. I respect comedians & I’ve never heckled/interupted/called out during show before but this was absolutely beyond disgusting and someone needed to say something. #t1d#diabetes#comedian#paulfoot
Carmen’s video ends with her reflecting on the experience, calling it “one of the most blatant acts of ableism that I have ever personally experienced since being diagnosed with this illness”.
“It’s an illness. It’s not a punchline to a joke. It’s amazing to me that we’re still platforming these grotesque, vile looking little rat men who very clearly cannot tell a joke to save their lives. Paul Foot, let me know if you need some tips on writing a fucking joke. You little shriveled raisin,” she said.
PEDESTRIAN.TV has reached out to Paul Foot for comment.
