Channel 4 'sorry' over Black-ish IRA Shankill bomb joke

Nine civilians were killed when an IRA bomb exploded in a fish shop in Belfast in 1993

Channel 4 has apologised after posting a video on Facebook of a joke with an apparent reference to one of the worst atrocities of the Troubles.

The clip, which appeared on the All 4 Facebook page, was taken from an episode of the US sitcom Black-ish that was aired on the E4 channel last week.

Discussing the IRA, a character refers to taking "down a couple of fish and chip shops to be free of British rule".

A brother of one Shankill bomb victim said the clip had left him angry.

Nine civilians - including two children, aged seven and 13 - were killed by an IRA bomb that exploded at a fish shop in west Belfast in 1993.

'Posted in error'

The Facebook clip - titled "Nothing tears a family apart like politics" - was posted on Thursday night.

It was removed from the site on Friday morning after more than two million people had viewed it, with some commenting to express their disgust.

Writers of the show Black-ish had crossed the line with the joke, said a Belfast councillor

Channel 4 said it apologised "if any offence was caused", adding that the short video was "posted on social media, out of the context of the episode, in error".

In the clip, two parents - father Dre and mother Bow - discuss the political position adopted by their son, who they believe has aligned himself with the Republican Party in the US.

Dre attempts to explain that to Bow, who misunderstands him, believing him to mean that her son has become a member of the IRA.

She says: "So if you got to take down a couple of fish and chip shops to be free of British rule, Dre, you got to do what you got to do."

'Mum in tears'

The episode was originally broadcast in the US in 2015, but was shown in the UK last week.

Gary Murray, whose teenage sister Leanne was killed by the blast, said it was "disgusting" that a joke had "been made at my sister's expense".

"I felt I had to tell my mum because if she saw it on social media first it would've upset her," he added.

Gary Murray said his mother Gina should receive a public apology from Channel 4

"I told her and she was in tears, she couldn't believe what she was hearing - how can you put something like that in a script and then show it on air?"

"A public apology to my mum would be very nice."

'Downright ignorance'

Belfast councillor Julie-Anne Corr-Johnston said the appearance of the clip made a "mockery of the grief" that the victims' families were experiencing.

"They're deeply upset and deeply aggrieved," added the Progressive Unionist Party representative.

Ms Corr-Johnston accused the show's writers of "moral bankruptcy" for making a joke about "one of the most notorious acts" of violence in Northern Ireland.

She called on Channel 4 to raise her complaint with the ABC network, which produces Black-ish.

"There's dark humour and then there's downright ignorance, and this show, I believe, has crossed the line," she added.

"If the writers are going to make reference to a terrorist organisation, they should know the content of what they're writing about."