Canadian comic removes "evil" vid

by Brian McKim & Traci Skene on November 28th, 2008

Comedian Darren Frost sent us a link to an article that appeared on the Canadian CNews.com site that tells of how Frost removed a YouTube video of himself making jokes about the July 30 beheading of a young man on a Greyhoud bus headed for Winnipeg.

After the outcry from the victim’s family’s lawyer, Jay Prober, and others, Frost took it down.

It’s hardly a matter to joke about, said Prober.

“There is no humour in this,” he said. “(The video) is evil. It borders on being evil.”

An Edmonton-based musician who wrote a song about McLean’s death, called Ten O’Clock Tim, shared his contempt.

“I’m really offended, actually,” said the artist who goes by the stage name DJ Kraeden. “It’s not right for somebody to be doing that. That’s beyond entertainment.”

Frost tells us that he “pulled the clip out of respect for the family being upset not due to the angry backlash.” He also pointed out the irony of the attorney’s pronouncement. “A lawyer calls me evil is like Stephen Hawking calling Evander Hollyfied disabled.” Nevertheless, Frost is contrite.

But Frost, based in Toronto, said he never made fun of victim McLean. Instead, he said, his skit poked fun at the media’s reaction to the situation and, if anything, sympathized with those aboard the bus.

“Of course, I’m a human first and a comedian second,” he said. “My job, in my opinion, is to either point out the hypocrisy of what the media said about an event, or to make light of a dark situation.”

If doing that hurt feelings, Frost said he’s sorry.

“I am not here to make fun of the victim,” he said. “I don’t want to upset the friends or family of the victim. If I upset them, I apologize.”

Frost also pointed out that subsequent versions of the story (like this one in the Winnipeg Free Press) left out Frost’s defense.

The attorney is over the top with his use of the “e-word.” What else is new? When we heard the original story, our immediate reaction was– of course– to concoct several utterly tasteless (but wildly funny!) jokes about it. We didn’t know the victim, so we had some distance from the incident. Beheadings are always so mind-bogglingly wicked that our natural defense is to try to find the humor in it.

Frost’s video wasn’t evil. The guy who took off his fellow bus passenger’s head was evil, though. We suspect that the pain of some comedian telling a joke or two about it on YouTube must pale in comparison to the pain of losing a son or a brother. We suspect also that the attorney would not have a leg to stand on were he to try to have the video removed himself.

Removing the Frost’s apology from the Free Press version of the story is… odd.

Read Frost’s official statement about the whole affair here.

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