A puppeteer in Britain has been rapped for portraying Osama bin Laden and Saddam Hussein as villains, a report said on Wednesday.
American-born Brent de Witt (41) has been scolded for using the pair’s characters in the traditional children’s puppet play Punch and Judy.
The show had crowds in fits of laughter — but a few dissenters at the seafront in Broadstairs, south-east England, failed to see the joke.
“I put them in the show as villains who would go and steal Punch’s sausages,” De Witt told the Daily Express. “It was very topical and just a bit of fun.
“But then we had a few people who did not care for it and instead of telling me, they went straight to the council.
“They sent word down for me to take the characters out of the show.”
Osama bin Laden heads the al-Qaeda global terror network, while ousted Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein is in United States custody near Baghdad awaiting trial on charges of crimes against humanity.
Bin Laden, cast as the devil, is defeated by Mr Punch in traditional fashion: clobbered with a stick. — AFP