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Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
Entertainment
Victoria Johns

Channel 4 bosses remain silent over calls to axe comedian Jimmy Carr after backlash

Channel 4 is staying silent over calls to axe Jimmy Carr after he sparked outrage with an 'abhorrent' joke about the holocaust.

The comic, 49, made the 'evil' quip in his new Netflix show His Dark Materials in which he joked about the atrocity as well as mocking travellers.

Telling the crowd to strap in Jimmy 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 talks about that because no one wants to talk about the positives."

Viewers were appalled by his comments (Getty Images)

Viewers were appalled by his comment with thousands lobbying Netflix to remove the controversial content.

Indeed some 14,587 people have now signed the petition named Jimmy Carr: The Genocide of Roma is Not a Laughing Matter and nearly 5,000 have attached comments to the page.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson, Health Secretary Sajid Javid, several Traveller and Roma charities and anti-fascist organisations have also slammed Jimmy after the comments came to light.

Jimmy is a regular face on Channel 4 fronting shows including 8 Out of 10 Cats and I Literally Just Told You.

A petition has been signed to stop the content (Getty Images)

However according to The Sun the broadcaster declined to comment on calls to sack the father-of-one.

The Mirror has also contacted Channel 4 for comment.

In his Netflix stand-up show, Carr justified the joke by saying it was his way of remembering the Holocaust and it had an educational quality to it.

He added: "Everyone in the room knows six million Jewish people lost their lives to the Nazis during World War Two.

"But a lot of people don't know, because it's not really taught in our schools, that the Nazis also killed, in their thousands, gypsies, homosexuals, disabled people and Jehovah's Witnesses."

During the show, he alluded to being cancelled, telling his audience: "The joke that ends my career is already out there."

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