Influencer calls out comedian on-stage over ‘sickening' skit
An Australian influencer has called out a British comedian during a tirade about diabetics at one of his live shows.
Carmen Azzopardi, a type one diabetic, attended one of Paul Foot's comedy shows in Europe where he launched into a 10 minute rant in the latter half of his act.
Azzopardi claims Foot 'made fun of people' who wear medical technology like continuous glucose monitor's — which is a device used to keep tabs on blood glucose levels.
Foot then proceeds to mimic a diabetic having a hypoglycaemia episode by violently shaking his body and then inferring they die after suffering a heart attack.
Although Azzopardi admits she is willing to see the funny side of life, she called out from the crowd to let Foot know he had taken it too far.
In footage captured by Azzopardi, she can be heard booing and shouting 'that was a shit joke . . . I have type one diabetes, that was extremely extremely insensitive and misinformative.'
Foot hit backs with a follow up joke, saying he doesn't agree his comments were out of touch.
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'I don't think it's up to you to decide if it's insensitive or not,' Azzopardi replies.
After the two go back and forth in disagreement, Foot declares comedy is subjective, before blaming Azzopardi for the act's sour ending.
'Due to the failure of you to grasp that simple intellectual point, cause you fail to grasp the difference between these issues, cause of that it's ending in an awkward way,' he said.
In a TikTok following the 'embarrassing' display, Azzopardi explained the impact it has had on her.
'All in all, deeply embarrassing for him, deeply deeply sickening to witness as someone who is living with that disease, but also just as like a human who has empathy for others and doesn't find there to be humour, cleverness or anything intellectual or remotely creative about making fun of someone's disability,' she said.
'I's probably one of the most blatant acts of ableism that I have ever personally experienced since being diagnoses with this illness, because that's what it is, it's an illness, not a punch line to a joke.
'It's amazing to me we are still platforming these grotesque, vile looking little rat men, who very clearly cannot tell a joke to save their lives.'
Holding a middle finger up to the camera, Azzopardi concludes the video with a message to Foot.
'Paul Foot let me know if you need some tips on writing a f**king joke you little shrivelled raisin,' she said.
Well-known influencers including Abbie Chatfield weighed in on the ordeal.
'What a fucking loser … what's this niche diabetes beef???? Well done for standing up for yourself and others queen,' she commented.
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