A Tourette’s syndrome charity has demanded an apology over an award-winning joke at this year’s Edinburgh Fringe.
Swedish comedian Olaf Falafel won Dave’s Funniest Joke of the Year for his pun about vegetables.
His winning joke was: “I keep randomly shouting out ‘broccoli’ and ‘cauliflower’ - I think I might have florets.”
Charity Tourettes Action failed to find the funny side of the joke and argued that it was poking fun at the neurological disorder rather than the vegetables.
A spokesperson for the charity tweeted: “Why is it still OK to joke about disability, or more alarmingly provide a platform to further perpetuate tired, stereotypical jokes that only reinforce stigma?”
The organisation was due to launch a campaign urging comics not to use the disorder as a punchline, but the charity’s chief executive said it “has come about a week too late”.
Suzanne Dobson added that she felt the joke was “rubbish” and brought “shame on Dave”.
She told the BBC : “Humour is a great way of educating people - but not only is it not funny to poke fun at people with Tourette's , it’s not even that funny a joke is it?”
Ms Dobson said the charity's helpline received several calls on Monday from parents of children with Tourette's, who were upset by the joke.
Falafel's joke was judged the best gag by 2,000 voting members of the public after being shortlisted by an expert panel.
The comic was performing at the Fringe for a seventh year and said that the annual event was painful "like pregnancy".
After winning, he said: "I think this is my seventh year at the Fringe, it's like pregnancy - you go through a lot of pain and then the child is born and enough time passes and you forget about the pain and decide that you fancy having another one, but straight after you're like 'I'm never doing that again'."
Tourette's syndrome is a condition which causes a person to make involuntary sounds and movements called tics.
According to the NHS , there is no cure but treatment can help manage symptoms.
