After tweeting a series of jokes about the earthquake and tsunami in Japan, Gilbert Gottfried has been fired as the voice of the Aflac duck.
The Twitter posts, such as, “I just split up with my girlfriend, but like the Japanese say, ‘They’ll be another one floating by any minute now,'” have been removed, but the damage was done, and Aflac took immediate action, firing the 56-year-old comedian.
“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 … Aflac will immediately set plans in motion to conduct a nationwide casting call to find a new voice of the iconic Aflac Duck,” Senior Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer Michael Zuna said in a statement.
Gottfried has been the voice of the Aflac duck for more than a decade.
See the Gilbert Gottfried Japan tsunami jokes from Twitter below.