Did you hear the one about Tommy Tiernan being an anti-Semitic goose-stepping Nazi?

Tommy Tiernan is no stranger to controversy. He has made comments throughout his comedic career which have offended various groups. I think the fact that he is very talented and for the most part very funny has saved him in the past. All the previous controversial incidents he has been involved in before have been dwarfed by the storm of outrage that has landed upon his doorstep in recent weeks.

The particular offensive comment was taken from an interview with Tommy Tiernan by Hot Press at Electirc Pinic and the quote is as follows:

"These fuckin’ JEW CUNTS come up to me! Fuckin’ Christ-killin’ bastards!!! Fuckin’ six million? I would have got 10 or 12 million out of that. No fuckin’ problem! Fuckin’ two at a time, they would have gone! Hold hands, get in there! Leave us your teeth and your glasses!!!"

Now I know what you are thinking when you look at it in print it looks pretty damning. Like everything that is said particularly by comedians we have to look at the context.So I got myself a copy of Hot Press and read the interview in full. First thing that I will say is that the interview was really funny. As someone who has not found Tommy Tiernan's recent material very funny I was pleasantly surprised at how funny he was. Secondly his answers in the interview were both humerous and intelligent.He had some interesting things to say about life in general and Irish society in particular. Then I came to the offending comment which was at the end of the interview. A member of the audience asked him:“Have you ever been accused of anti-Semitism?”. Tommy told a story about a Jewish couple cornering him after a gig and accusing him of being anti-Semitic. He described their indignation, their fanaticism and their inability to laugh at themselves. He then launched into the quote described above. It was clearly a joke in the context of the story he had told previously. He was not preaching these beliefs himself but rather ridiculing the anti-Semitic's that hold such beliefs and fanatics in general.

Criticism has followed from Alan Shatter Fine Gael TD, the Archbishop of Dublin and numerous Jewish groups. Tommy Tiernan has had to pull out of the Just for Laughs comedy festival in Canada. I have even heard George Hook on Newstalk calling for a boycott of Tommy Tiernan. Alan Shatter and George Hook two of Tiernan's biggest critics had something in common neither of them had bothered to read the article in full by there own admission. Tommy Tiernan is not Bernard Manning and he is certainly not Joseph Goebbels. He is comedian and I admit he does thread a fine line between edgy and offensive. His comment when taken in the context of his interview was not even close to being anti-Semitic. Anyone who is making this argument is wrong either due to ignorance of the full facts, or are being dishonest to increase there own profile. I would urge all fair minded people to read the article before you join the lynch mob out to crucify Tommy Tiernan.