I have to admit...

[darkchashy]

I was uncomfortable with the guys making fun of Richard harris's scratchy voice, the guy had hodgkins disease. I was interupted in the middle of watching it and haven't got to watch the rest so maybe I missed their heartfelt apology, but it just made me feel uncomfortable. thats all 

[Junkyard]

Well, they were also making fun of a dead man, yes? They make fun of the movie itself, not whatever exists outside of it. Everything else are just riff props.

[darkchashy]

That's what bugs me, the guy died from hodgens. I mean make some cake in the rain jokes or camelot jokes and or of course gladiator jokes, but don't mock him for a disease thats killing him

[Darth Geek]

I just remember several jokes about his mumbling. That has more to do with speaking very quietly and not enunciating. I doubt his disease truly prevented him from being heard and understood, that was the performance.

[darkchashy]

Hodgkens effects the lymph nodes, which are in the joints and the throat and when they get inflamed, it can make it difficult to speak. Which is why it bugs me

[torgosPizza]

That's understandable, but does it make one's voice scratchy? I don't know anyone with Hodgkin's so I don't really know.

[bratpop]

I don't think anyone knew he was dying at the time, or they wouldn't have cast him as a character who's supposed to be around for seven movies. So to make fun of a guy playing a 112 year old wizard who sounds like a 112 year old wizard because he was cast to act like a 112 year old wizard, and not a guy with a disease that affects his voice, is perfectly fair. If Wikipedia, or even the back of the DVD doesn't say, "played by Richard Harris, who had Hodgkin's disease, which made his voice sound funny so don't make fun of it," you can't really accuse Rifftrax of being insensitive. They're just being extremely sensitive... to what's funny. Like a 112 year old mumbling wizard who by all accounts is "nearly dead." Anyway, is it alright to make fun of him saying, "Ah..." and "Ah... yes" a dozen times in three of his last movies, or did Hodgkin's force him to do that too?

[trobotcrow]

I remember an interview with him before the first movie where he explained why he was "forced" to take the role [his grandkids loved the book or something] -- and his voice was faint and scratchy in the interview. i doubt it was an affectation he put on to play an old person.

what made me uncomfortable in both harry potter riffs is their jokes about him dying -- when obviously he did shortly after the second movie. i just never know how far comedy should be allowed to go. personally, i think people should be able to take on anything -- as long as it is actually amusing. but since those jokes didn't make me laugh, and took me aback some, it might be the kind of thing that's funny with your friends but not out amongst the public.

[Udvarnoky]

That's just Richard Harris' voice.  Go watch a movie from well before he was diagnosed with Hodgkins, and you'll hear that same distinctness.

Here, for example, is a Youtube clip from the movie Abraham: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DTuEfImUCAM&feature=related

[bug_eyed_sheep44]

I don't think anyone knew he was dying at the time, or they wouldn't have cast him as a character who's supposed to be around for seven movies. So to make fun of a guy playing a 112 year old wizard who sounds like a 112 year old wizard because he was cast to act like a 112 year old wizard, and not a guy with a disease that affects his voice, is perfectly fair. If Wikipedia, or even the back of the DVD doesn't say, "played by Richard Harris, who had Hodgkin's disease, which made his voice sound funny so don't make fun of it," you can't really accuse Rifftrax of being insensitive. They're just being extremely sensitive... to what's funny. Like a 112 year old mumbling wizard who by all accounts is "nearly dead." Anyway, is it alright to make fun of him saying, "Ah..." and "Ah... yes" a dozen times in three of his last movies, or did Hodgkin's force him to do that too?

I'm pretty much with this guy. They're making fun of Dumbledore, not Richard Harris.

[Scorpy]

My only real "huh" moment was toward the end when one of them asked "Did he just die right there?"