Abc - Australian Broadcaster Apologizes For Comedy Skit

The Australian Broadcasting Corporation has been swamped with complaints after its satirical The Chaser's War on Everything aired a sketch spoofing the Make a Wish Foundation and concluding with an actor advising that there was no point to making the kids' wishes come true because "they're going to die anyway." Kim Dalton, the ABC's director of TV, and Julian Morrow, the show's executive producer, issued a statement today (Thursday) saying that the sketch was intended to be "black comedy." Nevertheless, they acknowledged "the distress this segment has caused and we apologize to anyone we have upset." Among those who were upset was the father of a terminally ill seven-year-old, who posted a message on the ABC website saying, "I will now have to go and accompany my wife who is presently consoling our son in his bedroom about his pending fate and agonizing death, which this show did nothing but exacerbate. ... What on Earth were the people involved with the show thinking? Not only the morons that came up with the idea of the skit but also all the people down the production line who approved it?"

04/06/2009