British Politicians Boycott Joan Rivers Over Gaza Rant She Says Was Taken Out Of Context: Can The Comedian's Career Survive The Controversy?

Joan Rivers’ career may be in serious trouble. The comedian is no stranger to controversy, but many feel she crossed a line during a rant about Gaza earlier this month, when she said of Palestinians, “When you declare war you declare war…They started it…You deserve to be dead…At least the ones killed were the ones with very low IQs.” Now, several British politicians are backing a boycott of Rivers’ planned October 2014 British tour. Rivers insists that her comments were taken out of context.

Newcastle City Counselor Dipu Ahad started the boycott, by launching a change.org petition entitled “You are not welcome in our towns and cities,” which states, “We urge the tour organizers and all the venues to cancel her tour.” The petition has received 13,000 signatures, including that of Member of Parliament George Galloway.

It is unclear, as of yet, how this scandal will impact Rivers’ career in the long run. In addition to touring around the world, the 81-year-old hosts E! Network’s popular Fashion Police, stars on WE tv’s Joan and Melissa, and has fashion, beauty and jewelry lines sold on QVC. All her business and entertainment ventures could be in jeopardy if her comments turn out to have alienated too many people. At least one group in the US, The American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee, has asked NBCUniversal (owners of E!), AMC (owners of WE tv) and QVC to discipline the comedian.

Rivers, for her part, released a statement saying “I am both saddened and disappointed that my statement about the tragedy of civilian casualties was taken totally out of context.” She went on to insist, “What I said and stand behind is, war is hell, and unfortunately civilians are victims of political conflicts. The media, as usual has decided to only quote the most out of context and inflammatory non sequitur, rather than giving an accurate account of what my intentions were behind the statement.” This explanation hasn’t seemed to quell the outrage.  

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Joan Rivers
Gaza
Boycott
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