Frankie Boyle caused outrage on his Tramadol Nights show by using the words “n*****” and “p***”, sparking calls for Channel 4 to sack the controversial comedian.
Boyle claims that the words were used in a satirical rather than a racist manner but their use has still been called “deeply offensive.”
The incident follows hot on the heels of Boyle’s latest controversy, in which he made fun of Katie Price’s disabled son, Harvey.
Frankie Boyle’s “sick” Harvey joke
Boyle’s use of the n-words and the p-word on Tuesday night was part of a sketch about the war in Afghanistan.
“Basically we are murdering a load of shepherds. What gets me is our callousness as a society when we read out our dead on the news first, because our lives are more important. Other people’s aren’t worth as much,” Boyle said.
Continuing in a newsreader’s tone, the comedian added: “A bomb went off in Kandahar today, killing two British servicemen, three UN relief workers and a whole bunch of P****.”
Later in his show, Boyle said: “The Ministry of Defence? At least in the old days we were honest, it was The Ministry of War.”
Adopting a phone voice he added: “Hello Ministry of War, department of n*****-bombing, how can I help?”
Boyle comments led to a raft of complaints of racism from viewers.
Anti-racism group Red Card issued a statement saying: “We condemn Frankie Boyle’s use of racist terminology.
“Regardless of context and intention, the use of words such as these has the effect of normalising racist language.
Conservative MP John Whittingdale said that Boyle should be taken off the air.
“The words n***** and P*** are deeply offensive to a large number of people. I don’t think even in comedy it is justified. Frankie Boyle is becoming a serial offender. I really think Channel 4 will have to think whether it’s appropriate to screen programmes which are regularly causing offence to a lot of people,” he said.
In defence of Boyle, a spokesperson for Channel 4 said that the Scotsman’s show is “cutting edge comedy” and was ridiculing rather than endorsing the words.
