Hitler’s painting is purchased by a UK TV station; There is a vote to destroy it

• Channel 4 in the UK has come under fire for a new programme that would let a studio audience choose whether or not to destroy an Adolf Hitler picture.
• The channel purchased artwork by a variety of “problematic” artists.
• The channel included Rolf Harris and Pablo Picasso’s work.

Channel 4 in the UK has come under fire for a new programme that would let a studio audience choose whether or not to destroy an Adolf Hitler picture.

According to UK media reports, the channel purchased artwork by a variety of “problematic” artists, including Eric Gill, Rolf Harris, a convicted paedophile, and Pablo Picasso.

A discussion on whether an artwork can ever truly be detached from its creator will be moderated by the show’s presenter, Jimmy Carr. The audience will then vote on whether Carr should axe the piece.

Hitler’s painting will be shredded if the audience votes to destroy it, a Channel 4 spokesman informed CNN.

However, the official warned that other exhibits “could be destroyed by a flamethrower.”

However, there has been a lot of backlash to the recently revealed plans for “Jimmy Carr Destroys Art,” which is scheduled to premiere on October 24.

The show was charged with “making Hitler a matter of light entertainment” by the Holocaust Memorial Day Trust.

The trust’s chief executive, Olivia Marks-Woldman, told CNN that the persecution of millions more people and the slaughter of six million Jews by Hitler are neither amusing nor funny.

She called it “extremely inappropriate” and potentially trivialising at a time when the Holocaust is being distorted more and more.

The programme was defended by Channel 4 in a statement to CNN, which was characterised as “a scholarly and nuanced investigation of the limitations of free expression in art, and whether work by morally reprehensible artists still deserves to be viewed.”

The episode “speaks directly to the current debate over cancel culture and is in a long heritage of Channel 4 programming,” the Channel 4 spokeswoman added.

The state-owned, privately-funded channel was established 40 years ago to offer UK viewers a cutting-edge alternative to the BBC and ITV.

Its mission is to “push limits and challenge traditions,” according to a vision statement on its website, but Marks-Woldman said this “cannot excuse the trivialization of the atrocities of Nazism.”

The extent to which art may be connected to its creators is a significant issue, but this programme is merely a shock tactic, she claimed.

Carr’s selection as the host has also generated debate. He received harsh criticism earlier this year for making a joke about Roma people who perished in the Holocaust.

Given his history of leveraging the Nazis’ genocide of the Roma and Sinti people for humorous gain, choosing Jimmy Carr to head this show is purposefully provocative and incendiary, according to Marks-Woldman.

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