Sugar Sammy explains controversial Facebook post

Montreal comedian Sugar Sammy is used to his Facebook posts getting shared.

But a controversial joke he posted to his Facebook page last week has ruffled quite a few feathers.

“Who would you choose as your leader, Marois or Rob Ford?” the joke says, comparing two pictures of the Quebec premier and the mayor of Toronto.

“I actually trust the crackhead more,” the joke continues.

“A lot of [my posts] get shared,” Sugar Sammy told CBC Montreal reporter Salimah Shivji.

“But this one didn’t go viral. It went loco.”

He said the picture sparked an online feud about separatism and got shared by militants on either side of the political spectrum. On Sunday, he removed it from his Facebook page, but by then the damage was done.

He said the joke may have touched a nerve because of recent divisions in Quebec over the secular charter.

At the end of the day, though, he said it was his job as a comedian to comment on current affairs.

Regarding the charter, he said it still leaves him puzzled.

“No turbans, no kippas, no hijabs… but the mullet’s still legal in Quebec. Where’s the justice?”