# Gilbert Gottfried out as AFLAC duck due to Japan-related tweets **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 15, 2011, 1:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gilbert-gottfried-out-as-aflac-duck-due-to-japan-related-tweets/574731 "2011-03-15T01:49:09Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Superdude](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/superdude/32/13450_2.png) [@Superdude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superdude)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2011, 1:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gilbert-gottfried-out-as-aflac-duck-due-to-japan-related-tweets/574731/1 "2011-03-15T01:49:09Z")
From [here:](http://insidetv.ew.com/2011/03/14/gilbert-gottfriend-aflc-cut-ties/) One tweet said, “I just split up with my girlfriend, but like the Japanese say, ‘They’ll be another one floating by any minute now.’" Not sure I agree with this. Granted, his joke was in bad taste, but I remember MANY jokes about American tragedies that came along right away, including Waco (“How do you pick up women in Waco? With a Dustbuster.”) and the Challenger explosion (“How do they know Christa McAulliff had dandruff? They found her head and shoulders on the beach.”). But, while it was in bad taste, Gottfried’s joke was fucking funny. ---
**Author:** ![Two\_Many\_Cats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8dc957/32.png) [@Two\_Many\_Cats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Two_Many_Cats)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2011, 1:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gilbert-gottfried-out-as-aflac-duck-due-to-japan-related-tweets/574731/2 "2011-03-15T01:52:00Z")
What, this was the real reason? Oh well, I’m sure some voiceover for a talking bird gig will come along soon. ---
**Author:** ![Superdude](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/superdude/32/13450_2.png) [@Superdude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superdude)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2011, 1:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gilbert-gottfried-out-as-aflac-duck-due-to-japan-related-tweets/574731/3 "2011-03-15T01:57:06Z")
The article I mentioned reports that there were " a series of insensitive jokes following the earthquake and tsunami in Japan." The one I mentioned was the only one mentioned specifically in the article. But, still. I think this is a HUGE over-reaction. After all, Gilbert’s one of the dirtiest comics around, and has been for years. It’s not like they couldn’t have looked at his track record before hiring him. If they went as far back as Iago in _Aladdin_, it’s no one’s fault but their own. ---
**Author:** ![John\_D\_Adamo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ed8c4c/32.png) [@John\_D\_Adamo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_D_Adamo)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2011, 1:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gilbert-gottfried-out-as-aflac-duck-due-to-japan-related-tweets/574731/4 "2011-03-15T01:57:36Z")
I think Gilbert Gottfried is hilarious. And I’m sure he won’t be exactly crying over the fact that he won’t voice the Aflac duck anymore, but is this really the new precedent for firing people? “We thought one of your tweets was in bad taste, and we also didn’t think it was very funny.” Curious. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2011, 2:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gilbert-gottfried-out-as-aflac-duck-due-to-japan-related-tweets/574731/5 "2011-03-15T02:09:43Z")
Gottfried has been saying stuff way more offensive than this for his whole career. It’s his thing. If AFLAC wasn’t aware of that, well, they’re imbeciles. I doubt he’s crying over it. ---
**Author:** ![MovieMogul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f08c70/32.png) [@MovieMogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MovieMogul)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2011, 2:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gilbert-gottfried-out-as-aflac-duck-due-to-japan-related-tweets/574731/6 "2011-03-15T02:13:31Z")
> [@Superdude](#): > > But, while it was in bad taste, Gottfried’s joke was fucking funny. :rolleyes: Whatever you say. He can be funny (especially his blue stuff), but this ain’t it, IMHO. Plus, AFLAC is an insurance company, so having their spokesman make light of an incident of catastrophic proportions probably hit a little too close to home for TPTB. ---
**Author:** ![Simplicio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c37758/32.png) [@Simplicio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Simplicio)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2011, 2:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gilbert-gottfried-out-as-aflac-duck-due-to-japan-related-tweets/574731/7 "2011-03-15T02:20:38Z")
Eh, I don’t have any problem if Gottfried wants to make offensive jokes about tragedies, but if he were my spokesman, I’d fire him to. > [@John D'Adamo](#): > > I think Gilbert Gottfried is hilarious. And I’m sure he won’t be exactly crying over the fact that he won’t voice the Aflac duck anymore, but is this really the new precedent for firing people? “We thought one of your tweets was in bad taste, and we also didn’t think it was very funny.” Curious. The point of a spokesman is to attract positive attention to the company. If he’s pissing people off, then there isn’t really any point to keeping him on. After all, its not like he’s the only guy capable of making a funny duck voice. ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2011, 2:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gilbert-gottfried-out-as-aflac-duck-due-to-japan-related-tweets/574731/8 "2011-03-15T02:24:24Z")
Was he the AFLAC duck voice in 2001? He made his famous 9/11 joke then at the Friar’s Club. He said that he had tried to catch a plane, but couldn’t get a direct flight because “they said they have to stop off at the Empire State Building.”" I looked it up. Yep, he started voicing the duck in 2000, so he’s made plenty of tasteless jokes since then. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2011, 2:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gilbert-gottfried-out-as-aflac-duck-due-to-japan-related-tweets/574731/9 "2011-03-15T02:28:16Z")
Calling Gottfried a “spokesman” for the company seems a bit of a stretch. Correct me if I’m wrong, but wasn’t his entire role as a spokesman limited to saying one word repeatedly in commercials that never so much as showed his face? Gottfried does not seem to be nearly as intimately associated with Aflac as, say, Bill Cosby was for Jell-O pudding. Or even Sally Struthers for the DeVry institute. ---
**Author:** ![Heyoka13](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Heyoka13](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Heyoka13)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2011, 2:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gilbert-gottfried-out-as-aflac-duck-due-to-japan-related-tweets/574731/10 "2011-03-15T02:28:47Z")
Man, he is just as raw at those Comedy Central roasts as any of the other comedians. IIRC, he claims to have seen bats emerging from Joan Rivers ‘lady parts’ at sunset (and other stuff far to foul to post here) I love his stuff, but it was an acquired taste. ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2011, 2:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gilbert-gottfried-out-as-aflac-duck-due-to-japan-related-tweets/574731/11 "2011-03-15T02:30:33Z")
AFLAC does 2/3 of their business in Japan. This was a no brainer. ---
**Author:** ![fusoya](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ecccb3/32.png) [@fusoya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fusoya)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2011, 2:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gilbert-gottfried-out-as-aflac-duck-due-to-japan-related-tweets/574731/12 "2011-03-15T02:34:21Z")
His jokes may be a hit in the US, but they’re all sinking in Japan… ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2011, 2:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gilbert-gottfried-out-as-aflac-duck-due-to-japan-related-tweets/574731/13 "2011-03-15T02:41:19Z")
This is clearly a major shake up for Aflac. ---
**Author:** ![Superdude](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/superdude/32/13450_2.png) [@Superdude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superdude)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2011, 2:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gilbert-gottfried-out-as-aflac-duck-due-to-japan-related-tweets/574731/14 "2011-03-15T02:44:12Z")
Aww…Gilbert will get over this. It’ll be like water off a duck’s back. ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2011, 2:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gilbert-gottfried-out-as-aflac-duck-due-to-japan-related-tweets/574731/15 "2011-03-15T02:46:17Z")
> [@Telemark](#): > > AFLAC does 2/3 of their business in Japan. This was a no brainer. This looks correct. Do you have a cite that it is 2/3? I do see that it is huge there. Had no idea. ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2011, 2:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gilbert-gottfried-out-as-aflac-duck-due-to-japan-related-tweets/574731/16 "2011-03-15T02:55:15Z")
According to [the Sun-Times:](http://www.suntimes.com/entertainment/4319061-417/aflac-drops-gilbert-gottfried-after-he-tweets-jokes-about-japan-crisis.html) “I was talking to my Japanese real estate agent,” went one of Gottfried’s dozen cyber cracks that began Saturday. “I said, ‘Is there a school is this area?’ She said, ‘Not now, but just wait.’ ” And this: “Japan is really advanced. They don’t go to the beach. The beach comes to them.” Gottfried isn’t the only one: > [@](#): > > Before imploring followers to “pray for anyone who has lost someone,” Rapper 50 Cent got quippy with it, too, tweeting. “This is very serious, people. I had to evacuate all my hoe’s from LA, Hawaii and Japan. I had to do it. Lol.” ---
**Author:** ![Superdude](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/superdude/32/13450_2.png) [@Superdude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superdude)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2011, 2:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gilbert-gottfried-out-as-aflac-duck-due-to-japan-related-tweets/574731/17 "2011-03-15T02:58:07Z")
[Yakov Smirnov] In Soviet Russia, beach comes to you! [/Yakov Smirnov] ---
**Author:** ![blondebear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blondebear/32/1022_2.png) [@blondebear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blondebear)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2011, 2:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gilbert-gottfried-out-as-aflac-duck-due-to-japan-related-tweets/574731/18 "2011-03-15T02:59:29Z")
Ah, they’ll find a replacement for GG. Probably one of the new wave comedians. ---
**Author:** ![Markxxx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5daacb/32.png) [@Markxxx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Markxxx)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2011, 2:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gilbert-gottfried-out-as-aflac-duck-due-to-japan-related-tweets/574731/19 "2011-03-15T02:59:44Z")
> [@Mahaloth](#): > > This looks correct. Do you have a cite that it is 2/3? I do see that it is huge there. Had no idea. CBS says Aflac does 75% of all its business in Japan > [@](#): > > Aflac Inc. said Monday it has fired Gilbert Gottfried, the abrasive voice of the insurer’s quacking duck in the U.S., after the comedian posted a string of mocking jokes about the earthquake and tsunami in Japan on Twitter over the weekend. > > The tasteless tweets are particularly problematic for Aflac because it does 75 percent of its business in Japan. One in four homes in Japan buys health insurance from Aflac. The insurer’s CEO, Daniel Amos, flew to Japan on Sunday to show support for the company’s employees and agents. Full Story at: [CBS News](http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2011/03/14/entertainment/main20043084.shtml) ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2011, 3:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gilbert-gottfried-out-as-aflac-duck-due-to-japan-related-tweets/574731/20 "2011-03-15T03:24:43Z")
As long as they don’t fire the black dude who, in my opinion, is the only thing funny about those commercials. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gilbert-gottfried-out-as-aflac-duck-due-to-japan-related-tweets/574731.md?page=2)