Leading up to his dismissal from the Aflac ads, Gilbert Gottfried was one of the early casualties of Twitter karma in 2011. Aflac was forced to take action and 86 the actor after he was slammed for posting a dozen off-color jokes about the devastating and earth-shattering Japanese earthquake and tsunami.
“Japan is really advanced. They don’t go to the beach. The beach comes to them,” Gottfried wrote in one tweet that’s since been deleted, via The Hollywood Reporter. According to Britannica, the natural disaster ultimately resulted in an estimated 18,500 confirmed dead or missing victims. Gottfried was fired within less than one hour of posting the tweets. “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,” the company announced in a statement, via CNN. They also shared that they had donated approximately $1.2 million to the International Red Cross.
Gottfried issued a public statement, insisting he meant no offense. “I meant no disrespect, and my thoughts are with the victims and their families,” he announced, per Entertainment Weekly. Following his public firing, Gottfried competed in “Celebrity Apprentice,” where the notoriously humor-lacking Donald Trump fired him after two episodes. Gottfried then returned to his outrageous stand-up comedy roots.
