Leeds prop Bailey fined over Japan jokes

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BAILEY PUNISHED FOR JAPAN JOKES

Leeds have fined and warned prop forward Ryan Bailey for jokes he made on Facebook about the Japanese earthquake and tsunami.

The 27-year-old former Great Britain international, who was the subject of an internal review by the club, has issued an apology.

The Rhinos say Bailey took full responsibility for the comments in a meeting with chief executive Gary Hetherington and has expressed his deep remorse at the offence caused by his comments.

In a statement, the player said: "First of all, I would like to say sorry to all those who I have offended by my comments.

"Having reflected on the remarks that appeared on my Facebook page, I can see that they would be deeply offensive to those affected in the tragic scenes we have seen in Japan.

"It was not my intention to offend or upset anyone but clearly I have done that and I am deeply sorry for that."

On top of his fine, Bailey has agreed to make a donation to the tsunami relief fund.

Bailey has yet to play this season because of a groin injury but could make his return against Wakefield on Sunday.

Meanwhile, Leeds' teenage winger Zak Hardaker, who made a tryscoring Super League debut against St Helens on Saturday, has been ruled out for six to eight weeks with a broken finger.

The 19-year-old, who was recalled from his loan spell with Featherstone after the Rhinos lost Ben Jones-Bishop with a dislocated shoulder, will need to undergo surgery after breaking his finger in an accident at home.

"We are disappointed for Zak as he was impressive last week," said Rhinos head coach Brian McDermott.

"Unfortunately, as in all walks of life, sometimes these things happen but the timing of it is sad for Zak as he had a chance to stake a claim in the team."

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Leeds fine Bailey for Japan jokes

 Ryan Bailey is yet to start a Super League match this season due to injuryLeeds Rhinos have fined England prop forward Ryan Bailey following jokes that appeared on his Facebook page about the Japan earthquake and tsunami.

The alleged comments from the 27-year-old have since been removed from the social networking website.

But Bailey has issued an apology and, on top of being fined by his club, he has also volunteered to pay a donation to the Japanese tsunami relief fund.

"It was not my intention to offend or upset anyone," said Bailey.

"But clearly I have done that and I am deeply sorry.

"I would like to say sorry to all those who I have offended by my comments.

"Having reflected on the remarks that appeared on my Facebook page, I can see that they would be deeply offensive to those affected in the tragic scenes we have seen in Japan."

Bailey, who won four Great Britain caps before also being capped four times with England, has made 223 appearances for Leeds since making his debut in 2002.

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Comedy's Tentative Return to Japan

The jokes Gilbert Gottfried and 50 Cent made on Twitter about the Japan earthqauke weren't funny. But could they have been? The BBC has made a largely theoretical case last week that"sick jokes" about tragic events can be a form of catharsis, assuming the teller can "distinguish well-intentioned satire from cheap nihilism."

A real-world illustration of this principle is currently underway in Japan, where ex-pat comedian Dave Spector is being praised by the press and public alike for his Twitter puns about the earthquake and the recovery. In a profile of Spector published in today's Japan Times, journalist Tomoko Otake marvels at how "many [readers] have retweeted (or forwarded) the jokes, saying Spector's attempt at humor amid the national crisis has brought them a sense of relief."

We can't tell what Spector's saying, because his tweets are in Japanese. Thankfully, the Japan Times provided translations and explanations for two of them. It's a thorough (very thorough) testament to the power of puns and empathy--some of these jokes take three paragraphs to explain.

Sukkari kirechatta mono: Kan-denchi" ("What has run out completely? Kan-denchi")

Kan-denchi is normally written with three kanji characters — kan (dry), den (electricity) and chi (pool) — and means "battery." Immediately after the quake, many shoppers hoarded packs of batteries fearing power blackouts would force them to rely on flashlights.

This caused a shortage of batteries all across Japan, especially in the Kanto area.

But by replacing the kanji for "kan" to the one for the prime minister's surname, Kan, Spector twisted the meaning of the phrase to mean that the prime minister had run out of energy — which was probably not off the mark as the Fukushima crisis is so enormous that it would sap anyone's vitality.

"Ima Amerika-gun ni Nihon ni tonyu shite hoshii kugunki: sento-ki." ("The aircraft I want the U.S. military to bring to Japan now: a fighter plane").

Instead of using the proper kanji characters meaning "fighter," he has written "sento" with a different set of kanji, meaning "public bath.

And in this way, Spector was reaching out to the tens of thousands of quake survivors at evacuation centers who had not been able to take a bath for days.

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Joke's On Those Who Joke About Japan

USATODAY.COM?STAFF WRITER: ?Nothing like a staggering natural disaster to bring out mankind's ... worst? While the crisis gripping Japan has tugged on hearts and wallets, it also has drawn cracks from cultural figures that redefine insensitivity.

‧?Comic Gilbert Gottfried was fired Monday as the voice of insurance giant Aflac after tweeting jokes such as "They don't go to the beach. The beach comes to them."

‧?Family Guywriter Alec Sulkin tweeted that feeling better about the quake was just a matter of Googling "Pearl Harbor death toll." Almost 2,500 died in that 1941 attack; more than 10,000 are feared dead in Japan.

‧?Rapper 50 Cent joked that the quake forced him to relocate "all my hoes from L.A., Hawaii and Japan." He tweeted in apology: "Some of my tweets are ignorant I do it for shock value."

Is our insta-mouthpiece part of the problem? Don't blame the messenger, says Twitter's Sean Garrett, citing "The Tweets Must Flow." The company blog memo notes Twitter's inability to police the 100 million daily tweets.

Comedians often do get away with emotional murder. That's their job, Joan Rivers tweeted Tuesday in Gottfried's defense: "(Comedians) help people in tough times feel better through laughter."

Too soon, as Rivers' catchphrase asks?

"There's a line in our culture, but it seems to keep moving," says Purdue University history professor Randy Roberts. Before, "a tasteless joke wouldn't make it past a cocktail party. Now it reaches millions instantly. Don't say something stupid if you don't want people to hear it."

Even so, joking about death may be over the line.

"People died here — it's something your parents should have taught you never to make fun of," says Teja Arboleda, a former comedian and founder of Entertaining Diversity, which advises companies on diversity questions. "There's humor that helps us through a tragedy, and humor where you kick people when they're down. There's no reason for the latter."

And yet others have piled on, including Glenn Beck (who called the quake a "message from God") and pro basketball player Cappie Pondexter (ditto). Dan Turner, press secretary for Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour, resigned Monday after circulating a Japan joke to staffers.

"Japan is always going to be a target for some, as Germany and the Middle East might be for others," says Shannon Jowett at New York's Japan Society. "But I'd rather focus on the overwhelming sense of support we are seeing."

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