The video sharing web site YouTube.com has yanked a video parodying CBC President Robert Rabinovitch. The video, which was never formally acknowledged by the Corporation, was widely seen by employees as it passed around by internal email.

The video shows Rabinovitch answering questions from M.P.s when he was asked to explain the 2005 lockout. However, the person behind the video (Michael Thorne of rock band Dayjob Orchestra) overdubbed new words. The words were remarkably synchronized with the President’s lip movements, but clearly were dubbed in, making him appear to be babbling nonsense.

Some examples:

• “Forty-seven living rooms, I like it!”
• “Hey baby, I’m sorry if I was crazy, but my sister shaved my eyes off.”
• “I want a hat. That’s great and I’m going to take it off and give it to you fine people.”
• “Oh my God, I forgot to pack my juice. My juice! Anybody here have some juice? Apple juice, lemon juice, papaya juice. There’s all kinds. Pasturized. Lemon juice on bagels for headaches.”
• “That’s all my mom says before she puts me to sleep.”
• “I sometimes go a little nuts on account of that I’ve got a big box of fruit!”

However, some of the dubbed-in words were quite offensive.
But the CBC wasn’t behind the removal of the video. It was, in fact, the the House of Commons which claimed copyright infringement. (Huh?!) According to mystery management blogger Ouimet, to use clips from the Parliamentary TV channel, you need written approval of the Speaker of the House of Commons.

Personally, I think we need to hire this guy and put him to work redubbing more of what comes out of politicians’ mouths. He’s actually quite talented at it. We’ve got lots of shows that’d use that kind of stuff. (Strombo: Are you listening?)

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	Executives, Parliament, The Odd File