OTTAWA – Using the word "fag" in a comedy routine that touched on the decorating talents of homosexual males did not breach the Canadian broadcasters’ code of ethics.
The Canadian Broadcast Standards Council released a decision Wednesday about an episode of Comedy Now broadcast on the Comedy Network on September 6, 2005. Comedian Gord Disley’s routine poked fun at how straight men lack home decorating abilities in comparison to gay men.
"In the course of the segment, he used the word ‘fag’ on two occasions," says the release. "A viewer complained that the word ‘fag’ was discriminatory on the basis of sexual orientation.
Nope, said the CBSC’s specialty service panel. "Much modern comedy has a discriminatory edge, taking advantage of the propensity of individuals to find humour in difference," says the decision. "The humour may be proposed by individuals poking fun at others or indeed at themselves for the benefit of others. In either case, it is not all discriminatory humour that will be in breach of Clause 2 of the CAB Code of Ethics; it is only such humour as goes over the edge.
"…(t)o the extent that the decorative barbs were aimed at both groups, the Panel considers that they were, at worst, equally weighted. The Panel finds that the humour was distinctly un-nasty."
