Russell Brand brushes off joke controversy as 'silly'

Russell Brand has brushed off criticism of a joke he told about the Paralympics during his stand-up routine, dismissing the controversy as "silly".

Two U.K. newspapers - The People and the Mail on Sunday - ran a report at the weekend (10-11Sep11) revealing the British funnyman told his audience at a show in London earlier this month (Sept11) that the disabled sports event has "novelty value".

Several leading Paralympians have criticised the remark, branding it "patronising", but the comedian appears unconcerned about the incident.

Brand took to his Twitter.com blog to post a photograph of himself clutching the two newspapers, alongside the message: "Daily Mail/People stop being silly."