Chaser “Make a Realistic Wish” branded tasteless
UPDATED: The ABC has apologised to viewers for a sketch with child actors playing terminally ill patients and will delete it from a repeat tonight.
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UPDATED: Statement from Kim Dalton, Director of ABC TV and Julian Morrow, Executive Producer The Chaser’s War on Everything
The Chaser’s War on Everything is a satirical program aimed at provoking debate and providing social commentary on topical issues, current affairs and public life in general.
The sketch in last night’s show called ‘Making A Realistic Wish Foundation” was a satirical sketch and black comedy.
The ABC and The Chaser did not intend to hurt those who have been affected by the terminal illness of a child. We acknowledge the distress this segment has caused and we apologise to anyone we have upset.
As a result, ABC TV will edit the segment out of tonight’s repeat screening on ABC2 and on-line.
It hasn’t taken long for The Chaser’s War on Everything to land back in hot water after a sketch last night on “terminally ill” children.
The ABC was inundated with callers outraged by the “Make a Realistic Wish Foundation” skit in which Andrew Hansen and Chris Taylor ask actors playing hospital bed-ridden children what they wish for.
ABC’s website has begun attracting criticism:
– “What on earth were the people involved with the show thinking? not only the morons that came up with the idea of the skit but also all the people down the production line who approved it.”
– “As a half decent person I can only apologise for their poor behaviour. It is a sad inditement on our society that this is entertainment and even sadder are the people that pay them to do it.”
– ‘When television entertainment has to stoop as low as these b@stards did tonight (the ‘skit’ about the Unrealistic Wish society for sick kids) for laughs, the entire thing is damaged beyond repair.”
– “The make a realistic wish skit was the most appalling thing I have ever seen on TV. Are these idiots so insensitive that they would send up children in such a sad situation.”
Last week the return of the ABC attracted considerable criticism for not being funny enough.
Source: news.com.au, ABC
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130 Responses
I found it really funny. According to the average Australian that makes me deplorable inhuman scum and I should do you all a favour and go kill myself.
You’re right, Richo. The rest of us who found the stunt offensive are a bunch of prudes. This is all a gross over-reaction and a media beat up. I’ve led a very sheltered life. Sixteen years working in journalism/media, with close access to emergency services during that time, hasn’t quite exposed me to my fair share of human suffering. The Chaser has been pulled for no good reason and those idiots whining about the cancer stunt are way too sensitive. Censorship and the boundaries of good taste should be abolished. The Chaser should be permitted to poke fun at whatever the hell they like in the name of black humour. Paedophilia, car crash and Black Saturday victims should all be fodder for future Chaser stunts. Imagine if we all had your moral outlook on the world. I’ll try not to be so sensitive next time.
They sure know how to ride that thin line between being funny or being just plain low life scum they’ve lost my interest .How dare they make fun of anyone who is dying or is even suffering any kind of illness in which could lead to long life suffering or even worse death.ABC should bush em out the gate never to return.
I loved the skit and laughed raucously as did a number of people. Having been diagnosed with cancer as a young woman (quite some years ago) I have learnt the importance of not taking things so seriously. Laughter has provided a healing panacea to the quagmire of doom and gloom when given a poor prognosis.
The skit reminded me of a time when I worked in Palliative Care and witnessed arrangements being made for a terminally ill child who was too sick to experience the planned adventure.
Why is it that people choose to watch your program who are self righteously sensitive to sartire when clearly the program contains black humour. Once upset these people then jump on the blame band wagon. Viewers ought to take some responsibility.
Again, I loved it and look forward to the next episodes. Congratulations Chasers.
I am tired of people saying that to stop this sort of crap airing is censorship. It would just be pure common sence and decency. I got told by my 22yr old daughter thatt’people have different opinions of what is funny”. Well people also have different opinions as to child pornography but that doesn’t mean we let it happen!! Niether should we allow dying sick children to be riduculed and attacked as they have in this so called “balck hummor’! A line has to be drawn somewhere and the chasers have well and truley crossed it. The show should be disbanned and if any station thinks of hiring the chaser team they should be bouycotted. Lets bring a little bit of humanity back! Lets actually start to care what we say, what we whatch and what we do….All actions have consiquences!! (And yes I know I can’t spell…make a joke about that I don’t care. But leave the ill and children alone!!)
Comedy is supposed to be funny. The Chasers Skit – unlike some comments above – depicted the twin daughters of one of the producers of the show (not actors) as kids with cancer appearing greedy and unrealistic in their dying wishes.
How can this be even remotely funny!!!!
As for Someone BBBA and Vanessa- get your facts straight – the skit was filmed at a Hospital not a set, the hospital in question is just as offended as some viewers of the skit.
As for Morphane and RichoTB – I pity both of you, you found it funny! Good for you, I just hope nothing like cancer effects you, because if it does – then maybe you won’t think it so funny.
Where has morality gone? Common curtesy and good manners – are these things of the past? God I hope not.
now i know this would sound typical, coming from someone who’s had cancer twice, to say that this was in bad taste. i always make fun about the illness i had. and personally i think humans take themselves to seriously and shouldn’t get offended all the time. but i do think they went a bit far. its true: “how bout you have this stick instead”, that was ok. but “why bother when they’re just going to die anyway” that crossed the line. it was a bit disappointing to watch cause the chaser is a good show.
The fact that new episodes of the Chaser’s final series (in its current format) will now be delayed from airing for 2 weeks, means the ABC have probably asked them to submit all the filmed – unaired eps and written scripts of remaining episodes, so they can re-vet them.
Personally speaking I find it pretty hard to be offended by comedians because half the time they are specifically trying to push your buttons. Chaser has always lived on the risky side with some of their sketches and like the saying goes you can’t make an omelet without breaking a few eggs. Tom Green, Martin Lawrence & Eddie Murphy (both early days) were comedians who let fly no matter how controversial. The sketch was maybe distasteful but they have never claimed to be a group of guys looking for a mainstream audience.
Dave Chappelle was another who pushed the boundaries on many occasions in his show but certainly it was what made the show hilarious. The fact he was able to try and work with what he thought was funny. Now more sketches than not worked and would really push the line but if he tried to tone everything down, we probably would have never watched it.
Mr Do-Bee, the only people who need to reflect upon their moral characters are those who are calling for censorship. Attempting to force everyone else to adhere to your own personal tastes is nothing short of a disgrace, and you all ought to be ashamed of yourselves. The only people who could feel morally justified in behaving in such a way are those who have seriously misjudged their place in the universe, because unless you are some sort of all-knowing entity not bound by the subjective sensory experiences the rest of us are, there is no way you could possibly make a valid, objective judgment as to what is and is not acceptable.
well if the Andrew Johns “scandal” didn’t prove that the Australian public are now a carbon copy of the American public then this Chaser stunt just did! As I said with the “Andrew Johns” stunt, since when did being a slut make you a victim? and having group sex make you a sexual predator?
The Chaser did a sketch that was controversial (the whole point of the show any idiot knows that!) and look what happened?? just like Andrew Johns soccer mums everywhere blow it out of proportion and actually make it more famous and watched than if they just ignored it. Seriously are you people that stupid??
@Earthquake: No-one watched Comedy Inc.
I personally found it, and every other “Crap Wishes” skits throughout the years to be quite funny.
Honestly, I think people just go around looking to be offended now.
Mr Do Bee, you’re a clown. You know nothing of my upbringing or the hundreds of thousands of viewers who watched the segment and didn’t get offended or found it amusing. They may have had a few thousand or so complaints by phone, but there would have been hundreds of thousands more who laughed and moved on. It was presented in a comedic fashion, and as I said before, the point was not to mock sick kids and the fact that you’re interpreting it as such showcases your lack of maturity and intelligence more than anything else. The skit was not a personal attack on what happened to your family 20 years ago, sorry to disappoint you.
Your personal vendetta against anyone who finds black comedy amusing is quite sad. I could pull some half-assed assumptions out of thin air about your upbringing, including that you live a very sheltered life and are likely to be severely emotionally fragile, but I’m not as self-righteous or pompous as you, so I won’t. Continue judging others, I’m sure it does wonders for your self-esteem.
This was so tacky! My son died of cancer and he did get his last wish from Make a Wish and they were so wonderful! For that day he received his wish and many days after, he forgot about his pain and his illness and thought he was special! I really think you are all mentally ill. It was very painful to have those children act like they were terminallly ill, and I really hope they or the people who acted in this video or who ever came up with this idea, would never have their own children & families go through something as aweful as this! Idiots!!!!
I do sympathise with people who have lost people close to them, don’t get me wrong. But what i take issue with is people who think that other people finding a skit funny, which i will agree was distasteful, are morally bankrupt. Have you never found anything which may offend other people, funny? If you have, does that make you a bad person? No. If comedy steered clear of topics which may offend some people, comedy would cease to exist. Comedy is very subjective, and the skit, in my view, was making fun of unrealistic wishes, not ridiculing terminally ill people.
Benno, I lost my brother to leukemia in 1986. The generosity of our community allowed my family to enjoy a holiday together before he passed. It is one of the few happy memories I have of his last months. I assure you there was nothing remotely funny about the way he died or the effect it had on my family. We are supposed to live in a civilized society. What I sat through on Wednesday night was deeply offensive to me and the many thousands of people who have lived through such a tragedy. I pray you never have to walk a mile in my shoes (or on my high horse). I suggest you spend a bit of time reflecting on your moral character.
I think, and I blogged about this at length yesterday, that this is a bizarre side effect of the Chaser going from an underground cult hit to a mainstream success, some of the risky stuff they’ve done to get noticed is bound to p**s people off – look at the blow up over that song attacking Peter Brock and Steve Irwin.
The Chaser disconnected for me with that unfunny election 2007 special and a subsequent year off, call me old school but if a show (and TGYH can include themselves here) is not on for a year – I consider it cancelled and find something else to watch.
As for this skit – I heard some pretty gut wrenching call to radio stations yesterday from people who were fans of the show and also parents of sick kids, I feel for them
Hmmm.. I find the whole thing very interesting. Particulary those of you who open your statement with the insistance that we should consider the feelings of those pallative children and thier families.
I wonder how many times before now have you cast a thought to the lives of these kids and thier families before now.
I am mother to a beautiful child who has severe and multiple disabilities. We are in hospital in a year more often than most entire families are in a life time.
It’s like a different world when you are in hospital, it can feel like you dont exist to world outside.
I for one thank The Chaser’s team for offending you all so deeply with the idea that these kids dont matter.
Now go and make a donation to The Starlight Foundation if it bugs you so much or just forget about and dont think about just like before these damn Chasers dared to poke fun at you all!
I rather the outrage than the cheesy tearjerker sob story any day!!!
Mr. Do-Bee, i knew a friend who died from cancer not long ago. It was very sad. Just because we may find the skit amusing does not mean we are without morals. Get off your high horse.
RichoTB, I’m at a loss at what to say to an individual who finds humour in terminally ill children and the holocaust. I can only shake my head and pray that my children are raised with more compassion and understanding of those less fortunate. I certainly couldn’t do a worse job than your parents.
I found it hilarious. Just caught Chaser News Alerts back in 2005 off ABC’s website, good stuff. These guys are Australia’s best comedians, they easily blow Rove, Hamish and Andy and the rest out of the water.If you people didn’t know the Chaser did these kind of sketches, you’re ignorant. And lol @ people like Pat who claim “You’ve definately lost me as a viewer! Never again!!”, I can bet hundreds of dollars you’re the type of person Andrew was mocking in the typewriter sketch 2 scenes later, and chances are you haven’t even seen the sketch. If you think their intention was to actually mock sick kids, you’re missing the point. They were given “sticks” instead of Zac Efron, its not like they’re being lined up in a gas chamber.
People are getting way too sensitive these days.
I don’t watch the Chaser so I am very glad to say that I was watching Chuck on FOX8 when that Chaser’s sketch was on the ABC. From what I saw of it on ABC News it was definitely in bad taste.
Idiots. Full of their own self-importance. Someone needs to deflate their ego. How about doing something funny for once? or how about someone at the ABC gets their head out of their A** and question this sort of thing before it goes to air?
I am a grandmother, and was utterly appalled at the so called skit on ‘Make a Wish Foundation”..I think every one has the right to freedom of speech etc,but this was bloody sick,to poke fun at dying children in any way shape or form shows the low mentality of these so called actors an the powers behind them need to hold a dying child in their arms…May they never know the pain of losing a child,,,,