Dagestani comedians consider it excessive to be forced to apologize for a joke

When commenting on a film crew’s apology for a humorous video message allegedly recorded on behalf of armed members of rural jamaat, Dagestani comedians noted that jokes should not become a reason for threats and forced apologies, and the authorities should not interfere in the sphere of humour.

The “Caucasian Knot” has reported that the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Dagestan has warned residents that not all topics may be joked about in the republic.

The authorities and the law enforcement bodies should distinguish between a joke that had no bad intent and attacks and insults, comedian Nurmet Kazimov believes. He himself voices a lot of jokes on topics related to Dagestan, but he has not yet had to apologize for his humour.

According to comedian Nurmet Kazimov, the described story has parallels with the “Comedy Woman” case, when comedians had to apologize to the Ingush people for their joke about Ossetian pies.

Nurmet Kazimov does not rule out that the very apologies to the Caucasian peoples or specific Caucasian politicians may become a separate comic genre.

Comedian Arthur Gafarov sees nothing wrong with apologizing if a joke offended someone.

A member of one of the Dagestani stand-up clubs believes that it is not the law enforcement bodies and authorities who should assess whether a joke is funny or not.

Magomed Magomedov, the deputy editor-in-chief of the Dagestani weekly newspaper “Chernovik” (Rough Draft), does not remember the cases when the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA) of Dagestan assessed how funny a joke had been.

“This is the first case in my memory. The authorities may interfere in the sphere of humour only if the humour offends someone on a national, religious basis, provokes extremist crimes, or carries an openly racist meaning ... In my opinion, this story demonstrated that some law enforcement leaders do not have a sense of humour and are a bit out of touch with reality,” the deputy editor-in-chief of the newspaper “Chernovik” stated.