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Ricky Gervais Show Cleared Over Use Of 'Mong' Word On Comedy Tour

Ricky Gervais

First Posted: 23/01/2012 16:43 Updated: 23/01/2012 17:09   WENN

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Funnyman Ricky Gervais has been cleared of wrongdoing by broadcasting watchdogs in the UK over his use of the word "mong" in his comedy show.

The Office creator used the word - an old-fashioned term which is often associated with sufferers of Down Syndrome - during a routine about Susan Boyle during his Science stand-up tour.

When the show was broadcast on British TV last year, it sparked three complaints to the Ofcom regulatory panel - but bosses at the Channel 4 network have now been cleared of breaching broadcasting regulations.

In their ruling, Ofcom officials said the programme was shown after the U.K.'s 9pm watershed and that Gervais' routine discussing the nature of language justified his use of the word.

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Funnyman Ricky Gervais has been cleared of wrongdoing by broadcasting watchdogs in the UK over his use of the word "mong" in his comedy show. The Office creator used the word - an old-fashioned ter...
Funnyman Ricky Gervais has been cleared of wrongdoing by broadcasting watchdogs in the UK over his use of the word "mong" in his comedy show. The Office creator used the word - an old-fashioned ter...
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vividrick
I came, I saw...I had a cup of tea!
495 Fans
05:40 PM on 01/24/2012
The J. Lescott of the comedy circuit!
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chiodo08
...why do republicans HATE America?...
1101 Fans
03:24 PM on 01/24/2012
never heard of the term and will definitely use to describe tea party members...so appropriate indeed.
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Yeltzman
32 Fans
09:08 AM on 01/24/2012
3 complaints about the use of the word ....... whereas millions of others simply turned off or didn't watch this particularly unfunny man.
Can only 3 complaints really generate an investigation by Ofcom? That's pathetic! I must start getting some friends together and making complaints about all sorts of programmes that i don't like, maybe i can get some of them taken off the air - can we start with David Walliams and Miranda Hart?
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chiodo08
...why do republicans HATE America?...
1101 Fans
03:23 PM on 01/24/2012
well that depends do you have jesus standing with you?...because in the U.S. all you need to say is that you represent a church and they fold like a house of cards....
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cottertribe
1 Fans
08:44 AM on 01/24/2012
The word used to have the association with disability, but became a more general insult. In the same way that the "C" word is no longer a descriptive of a "lady garden", but has evolved to become just an insult. If comedians are no longer able to insult, comedy is dead forever.
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Drew2U
Emily is not amused.
979 Fans
02:27 PM on 01/24/2012
...You get fanned just for using the term "lady garden"--hilarious!
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greencardclose
38 Fans
06:36 AM on 01/24/2012
calling people mongs??? what a Kant.
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greenhat
5 Fans
01:53 AM on 01/24/2012
Who said he was a "funnyman" lol Could have fooled me ,More like very "Unfunny"
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Arkleson
100 Fans
10:54 PM on 01/23/2012
Mong isn't obscene, it's offensive (to some).
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Marty Jarvy
188 Fans
09:17 PM on 01/23/2012
It doesn't mean it's right or good.

It just means it's not being censored.

People seem to confuse the two things.
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
Thismortalcoil
Science is the poetry of reality
634 Fans
07:16 PM on 01/23/2012
Gervais is one of the most thoughtful, compassionate and sincere comics alive today. He actively questions our culture of discriminating against people who are different.

I'll never forget the hilarious, but also touching, scenes in the Office that featured disabled actress Julie Fernandez.

Gervais makes us confront any knee-jerk reactions we might have when we encounter diversity, and by getting us to stop and think, rather than preaching to us, I think he helps us all to develop a more mature attitude.

Weighed up against all the good he has done, it's difficult to imagine his use of the word mong was anything other than a genuine mistake.
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molbyJ
7 Fans
01:46 AM on 01/24/2012
I think I'm gonna be sick.
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guitar7masta
86 Fans
06:18 PM on 01/24/2012
aside from the last sentence, they raise some good points. people definitely take his routine WAY too seriously.

ricky is like louise c.k. they only say offensive things because they know people will over-react to it. these comedians generally don't believe everything that comes out of their mouths.

take a rest guy, put your feet up, don't worry about it
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Steve Bick
11 Fans
06:03 PM on 01/23/2012
He was being judged by a bunch of mongers. Or mingers as we say in Dorset
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PurleyEagle
1 Fans
05:49 PM on 01/23/2012
Just another example of how it's ok to use vile terms which dehumanise people as long as the persons concerned are disabled and generally can't defend themselves. Heaven forbid though if it were Muslims or Ethnics, that would never be allowed, and rightly so. But people with Down's Syndrome, fair game!!

And please don't give the sad tired old nonsense about the word having a different meaning now, the way some people now use it, it still means drooling idiot. A sad vile word used by a sad unfunny individual.
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
Thismortalcoil
Science is the poetry of reality
634 Fans
06:50 PM on 01/23/2012
Ricky Gervais goes out of his way to support people with disabilities - how many other sit com writers can you name who have included roles for people in wheelchairs, or with cerebral palsy?

And by 'Ethnics' do you mean people from ethnic minorities?
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sillyfrog
Pastafarian and UU student
2742 Fans
07:16 PM on 01/23/2012
If that is true he won't use that word again in any context. It hurts disabled people.
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PurleyEagle
1 Fans
10:38 PM on 01/23/2012
Yes, I do.
The same as if I'd written "should've" I would have meant "should have" or "could've" I would have meant "could have" Although I suspect you knew that already and were just trying to be clever!!
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Marky H
45 Fans
05:41 PM on 01/23/2012
Common Sense at last. Three complaints??? A load of fuss over nothing.
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A sad Dad
0 Fans
11:00 AM on 01/24/2012
You say a fuss over nothing, I think calling a Jamaican or African person n>??
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Marky H
45 Fans
12:56 PM on 01/24/2012
Did he do that then?
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