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Jack Dee defends Jimmy Carr: 'He set it up as unacceptable'

Watch: Jack Dee defends Jimmy Carr's Holocaust joke

Jack Dee has defended fellow comedian Jimmy Carr over his controversial joke about the Holocaust, saying it was taken out of context.

Carr has faced a backlash over his latest Netflix special — His Dark Material — in which he joked that people "never mention the thousands of Gypsies killed by the Nazis" because "no one wants to talk about the positives".

Stand-up comic and actor Dee, 60, told Good Morning Britain: "These things, they come round and they go."

Jack Dee (l) has defended Jimmy Carr's Holocaust joke. (Getty Images)
Jack Dee has defended Jimmy Carr's Holocaust joke. (Getty Images)

Read more: Jeremy Clarkson defends Jimmy Carr's 'career ending' Holocaust joke

“Jimmy, he set it up as an unacceptable thing to say, this is the thing. A month later someone got hold of it and started to try and make a storm out of very little."

In the show Carr introduces the joke with the words: “Strap in everyone, you ready?”

Dee continued to say that censoring comedy could infringe on freedom of speech.

Jimmy Carr's controversial joke about the Holocaust has been widely condmened. (Getty Images)
Jimmy Carr's controversial joke about the Holocaust has been widely condmened. (Getty Images)

He said “The bigger question really is about what we do with jokes like that and do we want the state to intervene on what can be said and what can’t be said?

“I think we don’t want that. I think we’re sophisticated and discerning enough [of] an audience to be able to decide for ourselves without having to call the cops.”

The host of Radio 4 panel show I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue and star of sitcoms Bad Move and Lead Balloon said he had previously been told his career was over after telling a controversial joke, but it never happened.

Dee said: "I say what I want to say and that's good. A live show is the right arena to do that stuff because the audience can immediately tell you if they like it or not. I'm not out there to shock anyone but I'm also not going to cotton wool what I say.

Comic Jack Dee poses in cap and gown outside Winchester Cathedral where he has been awarded an honorary degree by the city's university.
Comic Jack Dee says he was told his career was over after making a controversial joke, but it was forgotten. (Getty Images)

Read more: Carr's genocide joke is 'deeply disturbing' and 'unacceptable'

"There was a joke I was told I mustn't say and I ended up telling the joke anyway and was told I'd never work in television again but promises, promises, never happened."

Downing Street has commented on the situation with Johnson's spokesperson saying: “Those comments are deeply disturbing and it is unacceptable to make light of genocide.”