Few complaints over Chaser song (SMH)
A member of the ABC's Chaser comedy team has admitted a song attacking famous dead Australians including Sir Donald Bradman and Steve Irwin was offensive, but says it has not attracted many official complaints.
Chris Taylor wrote The Eulogy Song song, which criticised the way deceased celebrities were "eulogised" by the public. It was performed by Andrew Hansen on ABC TV last night.
It refers to radio host Stan Zemanek as a xenophobic racist jock "whose views were more malignant than his brain", and labels Kerry Packer a "tax cheat" and cricketer Sir Donald Bradman a "total farce" and a "grump".
According to a report by News Limited this morning, irate viewers called ABC to complain about the song and talkback radio had also been inundated with comments.
But Taylor said he was not aware of a large number of complaints.
"As of 10 minutes ago, there had only been six official calls to the ABC [about the song], and three were to say congratulations," he said.
"The song was intending to make a point about people who are flawed in life who are disproportionately hailed as saints in death.
"You see it time and time again, people almost incorrectly eulogised and people very quickly forget what the person was like when they were alive."
The song was offensive, but in a "nodding, winking at the audience" way, he said.
Despite the program's title, The Chaser's War on Everything, Taylor accepted it was possible for the program to go "too far" in pursuit of a laugh.
"It's a question we always deal with ... this song, in a way, is about that very issue," Taylor said.
"When we mentioned Belinda Emmett and stopped, that's our way of saying that's going too far."
During the program last night, the song's performance was terminated just as Hansen refers to Belinda Emmett, who died of cancer last year.
"I think Belinda Emmett is untouchable ... because unlike other people in the song, I'm personally not aware of any flaws or hypocrisy in her life - she was just the victim of a cruel and undiscriminating disease.
"There's no comedy in that.
"I think other people, for example Kerry Packer and Stan Zemanek, were clearly flawed people who we felt were getting the kind of eulogy in death that seemed a little heavily air-brushed."
The Chaser team has attracted criticism for a number of audacious stunts this year, most notably when cast member Chas Licciardello breached APEC security dressed as Osama bin Laden.
But the cast was not overly concerned with adverse reaction to their stunts, Taylor said.
"I don't think we sit down and have a soul-searching debrief about this sort of thing," he said.
"We've been doing this for six years, and have a pretty good idea about where public attitudes are.
"I've been interested to see Chris Lilley's show (Summer Heights High, which also airs on ABC TV) copping similar criticism for daring to talk about issues like rape or death."
Preliminary ratings figures showed last night's episode was watched by 1.5 million viewers.
