Aflac has fired Gilbert Gottfried as the voice of their duck mascot after the comedian sent out a series of insensitive tweets about the disaster in Japan. The insurance company will conduct a nationwide casting call to find a new voice.
“Gilbert’s recent comments about the crisis in Japan were lacking in humor and certainly do not represent the thoughts and feelings of anyone at Aflac,” Aflac Senior Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer Michael Zuna said in a press release. “Aflac Japan — and, by extension, Japan itself — is part of the Aflac family, and there is no place for anything but compassion and concern during these difficult times.” (One joke that Gottfried tweeted: “I just split up with my girlfriend, but like the Japanese say, ‘They’ll be another one floating by any minute now.’” [EW]
That’s terrible. The correct contraction is there’ll, not they’ll.
On the one hand, Aflac probably should have screened The Aristocrats before hiring Gottfried (whose named I just misspelled “Gottfired,” appropriately enough). On the other hand, Gottfried had the easiest job in the country, and all he had to do was NOT make a sex joke about the wet spot. Seriously, dude, your job was to say ONE WORD. “Okay Gilbert, we just need you to ‘Aflac’ in a really annoying way.” “AFLAC!” “Okay, wow. That’s a wrap. We’ll send you a check.”
