Funnyman Gilbert Gottfried will no longer be the voice of the iconic Aflac duck after the comedian decided the timing was right for some completely tasteless and insensitive Japan tsunami jokes. Gilbert went to his Twitter feed over the weekend and fired off a dozen tsunami-inspired gems (the tweets have since been taken down but you can still read ’em at BuzzFeed) such as:
“I just split up with my girlfriend, but like the Japanese say, ‘There’ll be another one floating by any minute now.”
and
“Japan is really advanced. They don’t go to the beach. They beach comes to them.”
In a statement released on Monday, AFLAC Inc. (AFL) said that “Gilbert’s recent comments about the crisis in Japan were lacking in humor and certainly do not represent the thoughts and feelings of anyone at Aflac.” Aflac Senior Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer Michael Zuna commented: “Aflac Japan – and, by extension, Japan itself – is part of the Aflac family, and there is no place for anything but compassion and concern during these difficult times. Aflac will immediately set plans in motion to conduct a nationwide casting call to find a new voice of the iconic Aflac Duck.”
Gottfried, whose jokes about such human suffering are incomprehensible, has yet to publicly apologize for his tweets.
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