French Journalist makes offensive Joke about Japan

[cloud360]

Laurent Ruquier - Le Flop Ten - On n'est pas couchﾃδｩ - 13 Octobre 2012 - YouTube

Its in french, but basically this Journalist presented a photoshopped picture of a Japanese GOALKEEPER with 4 hands saying he was contaminated by the Nuclear disaster at Fukushima in Japan. This is related to the Japan vs France soccer match.

Anyone think this is funny?

 

[EhrlerC]

I don't think it is very amusing. But like many of the people here I have a different outlook on Japan than most other people. I would imagine that the journalist realized that this would get some laughs in his own country as he patronized the opposing team. Things happen like this all the time. Unfortunately, he did not do his research and failed to realize that in fact this goalkeeper lost loved ones and family members during the tsunami. Hopefully when people find this information out, they will not find it funny either.

 

[Wardibald]

Kawashima plays in Belgium for Standard Liege. He's well known around here. Maybe the best keeper in the Belgian competition at the moment.

Last year some supporters, don't remember from which team, vocaled "fukushima" to him, which was a major stir around here. So the joke isn't even original, if it even was back then. Kawashima->Fukushima... killer joke :/

Even before the news got out that this was an especially sensitive thing for him, no one I know thought it was a good joke. I seem to remember the head of our football league made a public apology to the Japanese ambassador in Belgium.
So this could become a bigger story.

 

[Davey]

When you make a joke with friends, a joke like that would come out so now and then, but when a TV show that has editors directors screen writers make a joke like this you would wonder... how could they have aired it.

 

[Kenjikun]

It think it sounded more like a compliment

 

[Glenski]

Praising someone's talents by saying they were a radiation-induced mutant, one whose radiation killed thousands and continues to threaten people over a year later, is hardly a compliment.

Stupid is more like it.

 

[JimmySeal]

one whose radiation killed thousands and continues to threaten people over a year later,

This is a tangential point, but so far there have been 0 confirmed deaths from the Fukushima radiation, not thousands.

 

[Glenski]

Point taken. I should have said radiation that has had such an adverse effect physically and socially.

 

[Kenjikun]

Well if you think of it non biased wise I really think its funny lol.

 

[Glenski]

Uh, how can such a comment be "non biased"?

 

[Speedy Japanese]

Looks live a complisult, went to make a compliment but a bit of thoughtlessness turns it into an insult for those who have had any level of interaction with Japan during the Tsunami and subsequent Fukushima nuclear incident. My wife was living there at the time and volunteered in the cleanup efforts. She doesn't think its very funny I imagine many would be in the same boat.