Opinion: French-Canadian TV finds humor in Obama assassination; skit draws rebuke

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See if you think this is funny:

A French-Canadian TV skit on Radio Canada has two commentators talking about the election of Barack Obama as the first African American president of the United States next door.

One of them says: ‘We’re not racists. It will be good to have a Negro in the White House. It will be practical. Black on white, it will be easier to shoot him.’

At another point a host says, ‘The blacks, you all look alike.’ Then he warned women to watch their purses.

Producers of the ‘Bye Bye’ New Year’s Eve program said the skit was intended to mock racists. But hundreds of viewers did not see the humor -- or humour -- and filed complaints.

Monday, the Canadian Broadcasting Standards Council said it found ‘nothing redeeming in the allegedly comedic notion that an American president should be shot, still less that this would be easier to achieve because of the color of the president’s skin. It was a disturbing, wounding, abusive racial comment.’

There will be no fine or anything beyond a public reprimand for the offense, even if a second investigation by the Canadian Radio-Television and Telecommunications Commission has the same findings. Any sanctions would stem from re-license hearings set for 2011.

-- Andrew Malcolm

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