Canaduh condemns "racist" Conan O'Brien
 

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmp...anada_conan_dc


OTTAWA (Reuters) - Canada's government on Friday condemned a show by U.S. late-night television host Conan O'Brien that insulted people in French-speaking Quebec and seemed to suggest everyone in the province was homosexual.


Ottawa and the province of Ontario paid $760,000 to help O'Brien -- who appears on the NBC television network -- bring his show to Toronto for a week to boost the city's profile after a deadly SARS (news - web sites) outbreak last year.


But the federal government said O'Brien had gone far too far with the show broadcast on Thursday in which he went to Quebec, a province which has had separatist governments for much of the last 20 years and is a delicate political topic in Canada.


"We want to disassociate ourselves from the comments which were broadcast last night because we do not support them in any way," junior government minister Mauril Belanger told Parliament.


At one point in the show, Triumph the Insult Comic Dog -- a hand puppet that is a regular on the show -- said to a Quebecer: "You're French, you're obnoxious and you no speekay English." It told another: "I can smell your crotch from here."


O'Brien's team were also shown replacing street signs in the province with those that read "Quebecqueer Street" and "Rue des Pussies."


Alexa McDonough, a legislator for the left-leaning New Democrats, described the program as "racist filth" and "utterly vile" and demanded the government seek the return of the C$1 million subsidy.


"There may be those who would say, 'Isn't this interfering with freedom of expression?' It's not interfering to say we will not publicly fund this kind of vile, vicious hatemongering," McDonough told reporters.


Belanger did not commit to asking for the money back. No one at NBC was immediately available for comment.


The complaints over the puppet's comments come on the heels of a similar uproar following criticism of European French-Canadian hockey players on CBC television by the country's best-known sports commentator, Don Cherry.


The "Late Night" show, which taped in Toronto all this week and featured guests such as Jim Carrey (news) and Mike Myers (news), was broadcast in Canada by CHUM television, which said it regretted any offense that may have been caused.


"We offer our apology and assurance that it is never our intention to air programing that offends any of our viewers," the station said in a statement.


Triumph the Insult Comic Dog has landed in trouble before, most famously when it had an altercation with rap singer Eminem (news - web sites) at a music awards show in 2002.

I agree with the statement in that he crossed the line and ended up looking like an a**hole.....

How the hell is this racism? What a bunch of idiots. They are proud that they speak French...well someone should tell these morons to learn German and start reading Der Spiegel.

I find this all hilarious.

-Rudey
--Rue des pussies lol

How did he cross the line Cooper? Its not obvious from the article.

And guys. . . its the fucking cosmic dog . . its supposed to be insulting.

I had watched the show last night and found it hilarious.

I didn't see the show, but who cares? Anglophones are always making fun of Francophones, and vice versa.

Hey stan, ya jackass, don't implicate the rest of the canadians who keep our opinions aside from a federal ministry.

Re: Canaduh condemns "racist" Conan O'Brien
 

I'm sorry, but I think that's kind of funny :)

But then again, it's not my crotch he's talking about...

Okay taking shots at different regions of Canada is pretty much a past-time up here (which is why South Park was hilarious). You can poke fun at the culture or the language and get away with it, but when he started calling all french Canadians gay, that crossed the line (and hey I'm sure the gays were none to pleased either :) ).

As for that dog.... what a f*uckin rip off of Ed the Sock....

Whoa whoa whoa Don't shoot the messenger pal.....

Oh please, like that is such a hurtful, horrible thing. :rolleyes: It's a joke! Dumb maybe, but "crossing the line"...whatever.

I remember that South Park episode where the Newfoundlanders were angry because the new PM took away their rights to sodomize children.

Is this just happening because the Quebecois have no sense of humor?

Do people not get this? Triumph is the INSULT COMIC DOG. He's not the Intelligent Grasp on World Affairs Dog or the Nice Happy Loving Dog.

Geez, the cartoons Smigel does on SNL are WAY worse than anything Triumph has ever said.

Thanks Quebec, you gave an American city one of the best hockey teams in the NHL, and they won Lord Stanely's CUp THERE, not in Quebec.

I'm beginning to wonder if that was why some people were so upset. Maybe the feds are closet Ed fans.