The BBC is cancelling some of its filming in Japan in response to the complaints of the Japanese embassy about a comedy programme which called a man who survived two atomic bomb blasts “unlucky.”
The comedy programme, hosted by well known UK comedian Stephen Fry, had the temerity to suggest Tsutomu Yamaguchi, a man who survived two atomic bombings only to die of natural causes aged 93, was extremely unlucky.
The circumstances surrounding the broadcast are covered in more depth in the preceding article, and the broadcast can be viewed there or below:
The Japanese Embassy apparently had nothing better than make a fuss about the programme, saying it was “inappropriate and insensitive.”
The BBC offered a less than grovelling apology, but evidently this display of moderate contrition was not deemed strong enough – the BBC also subsequently cancelled parts of a language documentary hosted by Fry and due to be filmed in Japan due to the “strength of feeling.”
It would appear Japan has some influence left after all, if only to secure the cancellation of part of a programme with nothing to do with the original broadcast, hosted by a man most Japanese have never heard of, to be filmed in Japan and promote better understanding of the Japanese language…
wow, i was expecting something genuinely.. offensive.
they actually painted the poor guy in a really good light. they were repectful and recognised that he had lived through a lot. they talked about him with quite a lot of fondness, actually .. note the ‘awww’s from the audience.
.. on a side note.
british public transport.
why can’t it be less crap 😐
I’ve always found British humor to be quite awful.
And if anything to call a man that survive that unlucky isnt really nice, if anything its the opposite given the fact he survived.
To be fair, Fry actually stated in the episode that Tsutomu Yamaguchi could be considered extremely lucky or unlucky, depending on how you look at it. So, the story presented isn’t quite accurate.
In other news, BBC apologizes for calling Mexicans lazy.
An awful atempt to make humor of that guy’s luck of being present at the two bombings.