The Chief Operating Officer of ‘MyLife’; a ZootAlore! group website dedicated to helping people with disabilities and special educational needs, has slammed a comedian for his recent comments on a social networking site.

Comedian Ricky Gervais, best known for his shows The Office and An Idiot Abroad, has been blasted over his repeated use of the word "mong" on Twitter.

Defending his actions, Gervais said: "Just to clarify for uptight people stuck in the past. The word mong means Down's Syndrome about as much as the word gay means happy. I never use the word mong to mean anything to do with Downs Syndrome."

Joanne Shaw, who runs MyLife, has responded with the following statement:

“Ricky Gervais has proven to be a very ignorant man with his comments over the last few days. He’s proven himself more ignorant in his response to the outcry, and I am appalled that any person would think the use of that word was acceptable, let alone somebody in the public eye.

“He has even suggested that those offended by his comments are ‘The humourless PC brigade’; which I can assure you is not true. The fact is, the word is offensive and the way in which Mr Gervais used it is totally wrong.

“I would suggest that Mr Gervais takes a long hard look in the mirror tonight, and think about those people, and their families, who he has severely offended.”

About the ZootAlore! Group

The ZootAlore! Group works with government bodies, youth organisations and industry to improve the routes for young people into employment and training, regardless of background or academic ability.

It has a number of products including 'MyLife’ - a website dedicated to helping people with disabilities and special educational needs, has slammed a comedian for his recent comments on a social networking site.

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