Gilbert Gottfried was fired from Aflac in 2011 after he posted a series of offensive jokes on Twitter about the devastating earthquake and tsunami in Japan, which clashed with the company’s image and business interests in that country.

Quick Scoop: What Happened?

  • In March 2011, Japan was hit by a massive 9.0 earthquake and tsunami that killed around 20,000 people and caused enormous destruction.
  • Shortly after the disaster, Gilbert Gottfried, then the well-known voice of the Aflac Duck, tweeted multiple jokes making light of the tragedy.
  • The tweets were widely criticized as insensitive and cruel given the scale of the human suffering involved.

Aflac, which does roughly 75% of its business in Japan, quickly decided the comments were unacceptable for the face (and voice) of their brand.

Why Was Gilbert Gottfried Fired From Aflac?

Official Reason

  • Aflac announced it had “severed ties” with Gottfried because his Twitter comments about the crisis in Japan were “lacking in humor” and did not represent the thoughts or feelings of the company.
  • The company stressed that at a time of tragedy, it wanted to show compassion and concern, not edgy jokes from its mascot’s voice actor.

In short, he was fired because his public jokes about a fresh national disaster were seen as offensive, especially to Japanese policyholders and the general public.

Business Context

  • Aflac is a U.S.-based insurer but the majority of its revenue comes from Japan, making the Japanese market central to its business.
  • Keeping trust and goodwill in Japan was crucial, so keeping the comedian who joked about Japanese victims would have been a serious reputational risk.

Aflac’s Response After The Firing

  • After firing Gottfried, Aflac launched a nationwide casting call to find a new voice for the Duck, drawing thousands of applicants.
  • The role eventually went to Daniel McKeague, a radio sales manager from Minnesota, who took over as the new voice of the mascot.

This was not a quiet internal swap; it was a very public reset designed to clearly distance the brand from the controversy.

Gilbert Gottfried’s Reaction And Later Reflections

  • Gottfried later issued an apology, saying he was sorry to anyone he offended with his attempt at humor about the tragedy in Japan and that he meant no disrespect to the victims or their families.
  • In interviews and comedy discussions later, he framed it as part of his long history of boundary-pushing, “too soon” type humor, even while acknowledging the backlash cost him a lucrative job.

He continued to work as a comedian and voice actor after the controversy, but the Aflac firing became one of the most cited early examples of social media backlash abruptly ending a major commercial gig.

Forum / “Trending Topic” Angle

Online discussions still circle around a few key points:

  1. Was the firing justified?
    • Many people argue Aflac had no choice given its Japanese customer base and the severity of the disaster.
 * Others say edgy comedians are hired for exactly that persona, so brands should expect risk and not overreact when it hits.
  1. Free speech vs. consequences
    • Commenters often point out that while Gottfried had the right to post his jokes, Aflac equally had the right to protect its image and drop him.
  1. “Too soon” comedy debate
    • His case is frequently cited in conversations about when tragedy-related jokes cross the line from dark humor into outright cruelty, especially when money and corporate branding are involved.

“He didn’t get arrested. He got fired from being the corporate voice of a duck. That’s not censorship, that’s a company protecting their brand.” – a common sentiment in discussions summarizing the controversy.

Mini Timeline

  1. 2000: Gilbert Gottfried becomes the original voice of the Aflac Duck, helping turn it into an iconic advertising mascot.
  1. March 2011: Japan earthquake and tsunami strike, causing large-scale loss of life and destruction.
  1. Shortly after: Gottfried posts multiple crude tsunami jokes on Twitter.
  1. March 2011: Aflac announces it has fired him and will search for a new duck voice.
  1. Later 2011: A new actor (Daniel McKeague) is selected through a casting call.

Simple Answer (TL;DR)

Gilbert Gottfried was fired from Aflac because he tweeted a series of crude jokes about the 2011 Japan earthquake and tsunami, which offended the public and directly clashed with Aflac’s values and its major business presence in Japan.

Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.