Triple j Apologise For Morning Breakfast Holocaust Joke

Triple j have released a statement today regarding a tasteless joke made on their morning breakfast show hosted by presenting duo Tom Ballard and Alex Dyson. A number of complaints were made on the station’s Facebook page yesterday, urging the youth culture and music network to respond.

According to The Age, on yesterday morning’s show, the two played a game with listeners to guess certain things to do with Hitler. The final item in the game was a wind farm, which was supposed to link to fan-forced ovens. Fan-forced ovens were used to burn the corpses of victims after they were led to the gas chambers.

This sparked a reaction from listeners, which seemed to be initially played off as being ‘just a joke’, but today triple j came out with a statement on the matter, acknowledging the issue and explaining that they do take their complaints very seriously.

An additional statement from Tom Ballard was also made, explaining that they did not mean to offend or belittle anyone with their comedy.

The statement is as follows:

“On Thursday morning’s breakfast show, some comments were made by a triple j presenter in relation to Hitler that have received a negative reaction.

Further to our post yesterday on facebook, triple j takes all complaints seriously. We recognise the concerns regarding the comments are serious. triple j agrees the comments made were inappropriate. The matter has been followed up with the Breakfast team. triple j regrets the matter and apologises unreservedly for any offence caused.”

Statement from Tom Ballard:

“I’m very sorry that on my breakfast radio program, I offended and upset a lot of people. That’s not what I like doing; I like making people laugh and I like making people happy. I never set out to vindictively offend or belittle anyone or any group with my comedy, that’s not what I’m about. I sincerely apologize that’s how I came across in this instance.”

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