Death threats for missing girl punch line

MONTREAL, July 23 (UPI) -- A French-Canadian comedian in Montreal says he's received death threats since naming a girl missing for a year as a punch line in a tax joke.

Earlier this month, Mike Ward was doing a stand-up routine at the city's Just for Laughs festival when he criticized the provincial tax agency, Revenu Quebec, the Globe and Mail reported. He said the agency was so heartless, it would seize someone's child over an unpaid $8 tax bill, and concluded by saying: "They're the ones who have little Cedrika."

Ward was referring to Cedrika Provencher, a 10-year-girl abducted last July in Trois-Rivieres. While the crowd laughed at the time, a furor has since erupted, the report said.

On Ward's Web site, he posted a video message saying he's received death threats and is afraid to leave his house.

The girl's grandfather, Henri Provencher, told the Globe he wasn't happy about the threats..

"I know it's the comedian's role to test the limits of taste, but we've still got an open wound, and this certainly picks at it," he said. "But it's also not the time to react by going overboard."