The antics of a plastic puppet dog ignited a national-unity uproar yesterday, as anti-Quebec remarks made on the Conan O'Brien show forced its Canadian broadcaster to apologize.
Some federal politicians reacted with outrage to a taped segment, aired Thursday night on Late Night With Conan O'Brien, in which a puppet called Triumph the Insult Comic Dog visited Quebec's Winter Carnival and, as his name suggests, insulted passersby, calling French Canadians "obnoxious and dull."
But reaction in Quebec, where few have heard of Mr. O'Brien, was muted. Both Liberal Premier Jean Charest and the Parti Québécois language critic declined to comment.
Mr. O'Brien, who is taping in Toronto this week, mostly dodged the issue on his show last night. His only acknowledgment of the controversy came in his opening line, where he said, "for those of you who don't know me, I'm the guy who was hired to make Don Cherry look good."
The quip was in reference to Mr. Cherry's comments on a Jan. 24 segment of Coach's Corner, in which he said hockey players such as the "Europeans and French guys" were "turning into sucks" for wearing visors on their helmets to protect their eyes.
Later in the show, Canadian actor Jim Carrey opened the door for Mr. O'Brien to make light of the uproar as the two began a scripted routine involving a "Canadian posse." with Mr. Carrey.
One of the posse members was Bonhomme, the snowman mascot of Quebec's Carnival. Mr. Carrey shot a quick line to Mr. O'Brien about how the Quebec icon's appearance on the show might be seen as a symbol of "goodwill" for French people in Canada.
Sidestepping the remark, Mr. O'Brien retorted with a quick "that's nice," before carrying on with the scripted routine.
The closest Mr. O'Brien came after that to addressing the incident was when He ended the show with a thank you to "Toronto, and all of Canada ..... for your amazing talent, your hospitality and your terrific spirit."
Before yesterday's show, CHUM Television issued a statement of apology for the sketch, pledging to cut the controversial material from the rebroadcast of Thursday night's show last night on its channel, Star!
"We offer our apology and assurance that it is never our intention to air programming that offends any of our viewers," the company said. It owns the CITY-TV stations in Toronto and Vancouver, as well as the New VR in Barrie, Ont., which airs Late Night with Conan O'Brien in the Toronto area.
The province and the federally funded Toront03 Alliance put up nearly $1-million of mostly taxpayers money to help bring the show to Canada, in an effort to boost tourism in Toronto after last year's outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome.
Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty defended the decision to spend $500,000 on the show, because of the "net positive" in publicity it generated in the United States. But he said, in English and in French, the controversial humour did not represent the views of Ontarians. ''That's not something that I would have laughed at. That doesn't represent the sentiment felt by the people of Ontario towards Quebeckers. I say that with complete confidence," Mr. McGuinty said.
Toront03 Alliance spokeswoman Anne O'Hagan said the sponsors spoke with the show's producers about the sketch yesterday, but her group had no plans to take any further action: "We're Canadian, we see that there's delicacy around all this."
The controversial segment featured Triumph the Insult Comic Dog, a plastic puppet that chomps on a cigar, speaking in a quasi-European accent and frequently using the word "poop."
"So you're French and Canadian, yes? So you're obnoxious and dull," Triumph barks at a passerby in Quebec City. Later, he shouts: "You're in North America, learn the language."
Quebec City Mayor Jean-Paul L'Allier said it would be easy for Quebeckers to be insulted by such comments. But Quebeckers are a tolerant people, he said."It's always to easy to get an audience with these kinds of remarks," the mayor said. "We live in a community where tolerance is the basic rule. So being talked about that way may be insulting. ... I think people will simply pass judgment on the person using that kind language about our community."
Jean Pelletier, director general of the carnival, added: "I don't think it is a funny joke at all. It's not a good image of Quebeckers, or of the carnival, to portray in the United States."
Conservative Party leadership candidate Stephen Harper, in Quebec City yesterday, also condemned the comedy routine. "This is the place where our country was founded nearly 400 years ago," Mr. Harper said. "We can all make jokes about each other but you don't start telling people in Quebec they have to speak another language. That's completely unacceptable."
While many politicians were offended, guests at yesterday's show took the satirical routine in stride.
"I thought it was hilarious," said Mike Marozsan, of Toronto. "[Conan is] not part of a hate group or anything. It's a joke. It's meant to be humour."
"I understand why somebody might be offended," said Rob Butcher, 24, of Kitchener. "But it's a comedy show and he's shedding more good light on Canada than bad. I think this is a super-cool thing that he came here."
However Matthew Finlason, 28, of Toronto, and Meredith Henderson, 20, of Vancouver, were waving signs with slogans such as "Toronto loves Quebec." and "We don't need your freedom fries."
As the pair chanted, "Freedom fries, Racist jibes" people leaving the Elgin Theatre retorted with comments like "get a sense of humour," and "we don't care, it was funny."
Mr. Finlason said he came to demonstrate outside the theatre because he thought the offending sketch on Thursday night's show "made it appear to the Americans as if all of English Canada hates the French, and we don't hate the French."
"For this show to attack Canadian culture and French Canadians is an attack on all Canadians," he said.
The plastic dog was even the subject of debate in the House of Commons, with New Democrat Alexa McDonough calling the sketch "vile and vicious," and asking Ottawa to demand its money back. Mauril Bélanger, the deputy government House leader, told the House of Commons that the government found nothing amusing about the sketch.
Toronto businessman Peter Soumalias, who spearheaded efforts to bring Mr. O'Brien to the city, said politicians may not get the jokes, but Quebeckers would: "Quebec is home to the Just for Laughs Festival; they understand comedy."
Steven Kerzner, creator and voice of Toronto's own loudmouth puppet Ed the Sock, has long accused Late Night's Triumph of bearing too close a similarity to his acerbic, cigar-chomping MuchMusic and CITY-TV personality. But the loutish Ed the Sock is "never racist," Mr. Kerzner said yesterday, adding that he thought Triumph's take on Quebeckers was "bigoted."
"This is just miscalculated. It's clear that they didn't really understand the cultural sensitivities in Canada. Or they didn't care," he said.
Ed is no stranger to controversy, with a late-night program that features a hot-tub full of buxom women. But Mr. Kerzner accuses Triumph of being little more than a dog with one trick.
"It's typically cheap humour, one note," he said of his Late Night nemesis. "The character itself is a one-note gag. You know, he poops on things, he pees on things, and says old insults."
With reports from Rhéal Séguin, Richard Mackie, Joe Friesen and Canadian Press
