Frankie Boyle defends his ‘pretty funny’ Paralympic jokes

By CRAIG BROWN
Published on 01/09/2012 00:00

SCOTTISH comedian Frankie Boyle has taken to Twitter to defend a series of controversial jokes he made about Paralympians during the opening ceremony.

The 40-year-old was branded “vile” and “desperate” after suggesting Saudi athletes were “mainly thieves” and that a former British Army high jumper’s personal best was “Taleban-assisted”.

He also wrote, “I’m going to the blind football to shout the referee’s a deaf b******”, and took aim at the Queen, who officially opened the Games earlier this week, saying she “hasn’t cracked a smile since Diana died”.

However, he defended his jokes, saying his comments were “celebratory, non discriminatory” and “pretty funny”.

Boyle also launched his own attack on controversial official Games sponsor IT company Atos. “Where has this stereotype of disabled people being too weak & vulnerable to be talked about got us? It’s got us to Atos,” he tweeted.

“Why not read the Paralympic jokes on my timeline and make your own mind up?”

The comedian has appeared on Channel 4, the official Paralympics broadcaster, in recent weeks.

But last night, the channel moved to distance itself from Boyle, insisting the comic had made his controversial comments from a private Twitter account.

In an statement, it said: “He is not under contract with Channel 4 and we don’t have any shows planned with him.”