Danish radio host apologises for laughing at man with disability

A Danish radio host has issued a public apology after facing criticism for laughing at a man with a disability during a broadcast, reports DR. Ditte Okmann, co-host of the popular gossip podcast Det vi taler om (What We’re Talking About), called her reaction “absolutely inappropriate” and said she was “enormously sad and ashamed” after realising what had happened.

The incident occurred during an episode of Radio IIII’s programme Vi ser på det (We’re Watching It), where Okmann and host Mikkel Sorgenfrey played a clip featuring public speaker and disability activist Rasmus Lund Sørensen. Both were heard laughing in response. The segment has since been edited out of the broadcast.

Okmann wrote on Facebook that she had personally reached out to Sørensen to apologise, calling the episode “deeply shameful.” She added: “To others with disabilities who were offended, here is an unconditional apology. I’m sorry.”

Criticism of the programme has been widespread since its Friday broadcast. The Danish Cerebral Palsy Association stated the clip should never have been included in the first place. Sara Jeppesen, mother of a daughter with cerebral palsy, told P1 Morgen she found the broadcast “grotesque” and questioned when discrimination would end if public figures behaved this way.

“As a mother, I don’t see how we can tell our children this shouldn’t happen in the schoolyard when powerful people do it on live radio,” she said, rejecting Okmann’s apology as insincere. “Her worldview is just as degrading today as it was before the show aired. I don’t think we should give her more airtime.”

Radio IIII’s editor-in-chief, Marie Rask Glerup, also apologised, acknowledging the hosts were unprepared for the clip but calling the reaction unacceptable. Co-host Mikkel Sorgenfrey separately told P1 Morgen: “I want to apologise to Rasmus. Here, we simply missed the mark.”