"Harry & Paul is a post-watershed comedy sketch series and as such tackles many situations in a comedic way. Set in this context, the sketch in question is so far beyond the realms of reality as to be absurd _ and in no way is intended to demean or upset any viewer," the company said in a statement.
is it just comedy to the extreme or is it a racial slur?
looking at the BBC "Harry & Paul" comedy skit - what makes it racially insensitive is the fact that they identified the "maid" character in the skit as a Filipina. they could have avoided it without harming the humor, but the show chose not to.
within the context of the sketch, identifying the race or nationality of the maid would have not mattered at all.
within the context of the sketch, identifying the race or nationality of the maid would have not mattered at all. the maid character was in a stereo-type maid's uniform, there was no way the audience would have mis-identified the character in the sketch in any other role other than a maid.
given that the maid needed to be called out verbally, since one character was at a distance, they could have called her by any female name or referred to her as "maid". using any female name would have not resulted to any confusion since there were only two characters there - a male and female. and given the maid's uniform the woman was wearing, there is no way the audience will get confused about the plot of the sketch.
or they could have used a caucasian actress in that maid's role and the humor would have still been there. the story is just about this man unresponsive to everything, even to the seductive moves of a female. nationality nor race had nothing to do with that story. nationality or race wasn't what made that sketch funny, it was the situation it portrayed.
not using a caucasian actress and instead the use of an asian actress in that role and calling her out as a Filipina and not by any female name makes it very obvious that the writers did intend to make a statement on race and nationality.
they can argue that because most of the maids in the UK are Filipinas (assuming that is true) and calling out that character as one makes the sketch more realistic. but realism in this one is not at all important nor critical. it is to begin with a comedy show and this particular tv show is known for it's outlandish and extreme humor. the show thrives on unrealism, not realism.
given that the maid needed to be called out verbally, since one character was at a distance, they could have called her by any female name or referred to her as "maid". using any female name would have not resulted to any confusion since there were only two characters there - a male and female. and given the maid's uniform the woman was wearing, there is no way the audience will get confused about the plot of the sketch.
or they could have used a caucasian actress in that maid's role and the humor would have still been there. the story is just about this man unresponsive to everything, even to the seductive moves of a female. nationality nor race had nothing to do with that story. nationality or race wasn't what made that sketch funny, it was the situation it portrayed.
not using a caucasian actress and instead the use of an asian actress in that role and calling her out as a Filipina and not by any female name makes it very obvious that the writers did intend to make a statement on race and nationality.
they can argue that because most of the maids in the UK are Filipinas (assuming that is true) and calling out that character as one makes the sketch more realistic. but realism in this one is not at all important nor critical. it is to begin with a comedy show and this particular tv show is known for it's outlandish and extreme humor. the show thrives on unrealism, not realism.
the show being about unrealism and not realism is consistent with the show's statement, above at the start of this discussion.
looking at that official statement - " the sketch in question is so far beyond the realms of reality as to be absurd". if what they say is true, that it is "beyond the realms of reality", why then did they identify the maid with a very real name, "Filipina"? to be consistent with going "far beyond the reals of reality" would have lead them to give that maid a name of something like "R2D7000" or "celestial being".
it is doubly insulting that even their official explanation seeks to fool us and shows their thinking that we can be fooled. there is no question about it, this Harry & Paul's Filipina maid sketch in intent and in actual form makes a racial slur against filipinas.
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