Mar 15 2011

Howard Stern, George Takei Support Gilbert Gottfried

Quick update on Gilbert Gottfried and his ousting as the voice of the Aflac duck. (Or as we put it, Gilbert GotFired.) Howard Stern said on his SiriusXM radio show today that Gilbert never had a squeaky clean image, so for Aflac to can him now is stupid. That’s exactly what I said. George Takei also weighed in, according to Howard, saying that he didn’t really care about Gilbert’s jokes. (I’m paraphrasing; I’ll update if I can find the exact quote.)

If you do a Google Realtime Search for George Takei Gilbert Gottfried there are a couple of references to the above, like this tweet:

Hey if George Takei can take a joke and still follows Gilbert Gottfried …I dont see a problem #SuluRocks

Another tweeter (twitterer? Which is grammatically correct? And does it matter?) wrote:

With Gilbert Gottfried’s ouster, Aflac needs a new voice for their duck. I suggest George Takei. #NewAflacDuck

Not a bad idea, actually. The duck would have a deeper voice, though. Oh, my.

[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u2ALsvU50wQ]


Mar 15 2011

Dad Gilbert Gottfried fired as voice of Aflac duck

Comedian and celebrity dad Gilbert Gottfried was fired as the voice of the Aflac duck, according to CNN. He made the following jokes via Twitter about Japan:

“Japan called me. They said ‘maybe those jokes are a hit in the U.S., but over here, they’re all sinking.'”

“I was talking to my Japanese real estate agent. I said ‘is there a school in this area.’ She said ‘not now, but just wait.'”

The tweets have since been deleted according to Yahoo! News.

I’m against people being fired for making jokes. Then again, there is such a thing as, you know, judgment. This is poor judgment on Gilbert’s part.

Gottfried has never been a comic who works clean, which is why I always found it amusing that he gets so much work in children’s entertainment like Aladdin and Cyberchase.

Here is Gilbert Gottfried at the Hugh Hefner roast, one of my favorite routines of his.

[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7VE2VVbpZ7w]

By the way, yes, Gilbert is indeed a father. I know this because I listen to Howard Stern. I guess he’ll have to look for another steady gig to support the family.

And OK, fine. We should call him Gilbert GotFired. Get it? Oy.

Comedian Gilbert Gottfried fired as voice of Aflac duck – CNN.com.