Wednesday, June 23, 2010

Bye Bye's parade of tasteless racial humour to return

Seems the Quebec airwaves wouldn't be the same without attacks on minorities.

A controversial Quebec television program, cancelled last year after producers were accused of racism, has been revived.

Radio-Canada's iconic Bye Bye New Year's Eve special will return to the airwaves at the end of 2010, under the watch of Quebec TV personality VĂ©ronique Cloutier and her husband, Louis Morissette.

Cloutier and Morissette were the target of widespread criticism after their Dec. 31, 2008, show went to air with off-colour skits about U.S. President Barack Obama and Quebec singer Natalie Simard.

The public broadcaster received hundreds of complaints about the program, which viewers called racist and in extremely bad taste.

After the Canadian Radio-Television Telecommunications Commission received more than 170 complaints, the regulator ruled Radio-Canada breached provisions of Canada's broadcasting regulations and its conditions of licence.

CBC's French-language service was forced to apologize for the program.

After Radio-Canada announced Tuesday that the show would be revived, Cloutier and Morissette posted a video on YouTube, apologizing in advance for their Dec. 31, 2010, program.

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