CONTROVERSIAL Scots comic Frankie Boyle has angered animal lovers by Tweeting that it would be funny if Edinburgh Zoo’s pandas died.
The outrageous comedian, whose recent human targets have included Katie Price and the McCanns, sent the panda Tweet to 360,000 followers yesterday (tue).
He wrote: “I genuinely just had a wee chuckle at the thought of those pandas dying. How sh**e that would be for Scotland. How appropriate. Night”.
Both pandas have been removed from display in recent weeks after non life-threatening suffering bouts of colic.
A spokesman for Scottish animal charity OneKind described the comic’s comments as being in “bad taste”.
He said: It was said in bad taste as they have been suffering from ill health recently.”
Suggesting Boyle of using “controversy for the sake of controversy”, the spokesman added: “He hasn’t explained why he said that and as an animal charity we would be concerned if we thought he was implying that they should be killed.
“We are critical of the decision to bring the pandas to Scotland. If something happens to one of the animals it would be regrettable.”
A spokeswoman for the Scottish SSPCA said that Frankie Boyle’s Tweet “does not merit a response.”
Edinburgh Zoo refused to comment, with a spokesman explaining: “We don’t comment on that kind of thing.”
The female panda, Tian Tian, was diagnosed with a mild form of colic on Saturday, while the male, Yang Guang, was removed two weeks ago after developing a more serious bout.
In December last year glamour model Katie Price urged people to boycott Channel 4 after Boyle made a joke about her disabled son, Harvey.
He was also slammed for a tasteless joke following the appearance of the parents of missing Madeline McCann at the Leveson Inquiry into press standards.
In an interview Boyle said: “He said: “Yeah, I saw the McCanns on there and really wanted them to go, ‘Could you round it up in the next few minutes, mate? We’ve left the kids over in Starbucks’.”
