Jim Jefferies brought his Comedy Central show to Canada in search of controversy – but left empty-handed.
The Australian comedian aired a segment in his show Tuesday night centering on the debate over the Edmonton Eskimos’ team name–and whether it was considered offensive.
Referencing divisive American team names like the Washington Redskins and Cleveland Indians, Jefferies said he was heading north to see how Canadians were dealing with a similar controversy.
Speaking with a panel of Edmonton Eskimos fans, Jefferies asked whether they thought the name was offensive.
“I don’t think it’s offensive one bit,” one man said. “The people that are offended by it, I don’t think they truly exist.”
Jefferies also travelled to “northern Canada” to meet with Inuit people to ask what they thought of the team name.
“I don’t view our people as Eskimos. We are Inuit,” a woman told Jefferies.
The comedian then recapped the country’s history with Indigenous people, touching on residential schools and the Sixties Scoop, in which the Canadian government removed young Indigenous children from their families.
“Hey Canada, removing children from their families is supposed to be an American thing,” Jefferies joked.
The Inuit women he spoke with also talked about how northern Indigenous communities struggle with issues like higher-than-average alcoholism and suicide rates.
“Before we discuss a name of a football team, we should be discussing the suicide rates, the housing shortage, the alcoholism, residential schools, we should be addressing those issues instead,” one of the women said.
By the end of the segment, when Jefferies again challenged the Eskimos fan panel on the name, they conceded.
“My position on it is if they want to change it, and they feel victimized by it, if that’s what they want, I will support that,” one man said. “If it’s felt needed to change the name, change the name.”
The Inuit women he spoke with also seemed unaffected by the team name.
“To me, I wasn’t offended. I joke about the Edmonton football team was our team because they had our name,” one says.
Those responses apparently weren’t what Jefferies was used to, prompting the comedian to joke: “F***n Canadians man, they’re just so reasonable.”
Jefferies said the only loser in the debate was him, because he was “dumb enough to go to Canada in search for American-style controversy.”
He’s not the only person to question the team’s name.
There have been calls for Edmonton's CFL team to change its name, but there are no immediate plans to do so, an Eskimos marketing and communications official said in April.
CTV News Edmonton reached out to the team for its response to Jefferies segment and officiials said while it may be funny, they take discussions about the Eskimos name seriously.
We have been following the conversation and engaging in research about our team name for some time and have heard a variety of perspectives on it, some of which were included in the piece," a spokesman said. "We appreciate the fact that Mr. Jefferies made an effort to go up north and talk to Inuit to gain their perspective, as we have done numerous times as well."
