In defence of Raybon

The HoS reports:

Kiwi comedian Raybon Kan was under fire last night for linking the Holocaust to All Black sponsor adidas and Auckland’s Rugby World Cup travel woes.

Kan said online: “Maybe adidas should run Auckland public transport. Nice German company. They should know how to load thousands on to trains.”

Heh. It’s bad taste, but most jokes are – just to varying degrees.

Kan said he had not had any complaints. “You’re looking for offence that hasn’t happened. I invite those people to email me,” he said.

So the media have gone off trying to find someone offended.

New Zealand Jewish Council chairman Stephen Goodman said Kan belonged to a generation that had not dealt with the harsh realities of the Holocaust.

“But ignorance is not an excuse to trivialise what happened,” he said.

The Holocaust is the greatest evil of recent generations (and no this is not an invitation to debate that here – use general debate if you must). But I don’t think humour necessarily trivialises it. The target of Raybon’s humour is not Jews, the Holocaust or even Germans, but Adidas.

The Herald on Sunday will forward emails to Raybon Kan. Send your thoughts to: news@hos.co.nz

I’d encourage those who don’t think Raybon did anything wrong to also send their thoughts through.