According to Larry, reading from the paper this morning, Jan Böhmerman, a German comedian, is being prosecuted for reciting a lewd poem on late night TV lampooning Tayyip Erdogan, the president of Turkey. Why? You can read about it.
The event inspired British free-speech advocate Douglas Murray to host a contest with a Ł1,000 prize: “The President Erdogan Offensive Poetry Contest, the ruder the poem (limericks preferred) the better.”
Here’s Boris Johnson’s winning entry and an alternate version with the meter corrected by me:
There was a young fellow from Ankara,
Who was a terrific wankerer.
Till he sowed his wild oats,
With the help of a goat,
But he didn’t even stop to thankera.
There was a young fellow from Ankara,
Who was an unbeatable wankerer.
He sowed his wild oats,
With the help of a goat,
Without even stopping to thankera.
If not for the contest, I don’t think I could have told you the name of the president of Turkey. The attempt to suppress always backfires.