The main aims of CLAPA are : At BAFTA Television Awards at the London Palladium Theatre in London on 20 May 2007 , when presenting Ricky Gervais with the award for best comedy performance Joan Rivers made a joke referring to the statuette as a " Jew with a harelip " . CLAPA Chief Executive Gareth Davies wrote directly to BAFTA to express his " serious disappointment " at the incident and he said that " many people found the old-fashioned term " harelip " highly offensive and that " making the condition the subject of a cheap joke was simply hurtful " Rivers said that she was extremely sorry for any offence caused as this had certainly not been her intention . Amanda Berry , BAFTA Chief Executive , stated that the Academy would " never set out to offend nor make fun of anyone " . On their website CLAPA said it was pleased to receive the apologies but is aware that too many people are still ill-informed about what cleft lip and palate is and what it is not . They added that this ignorance can often feed into prejudice and the media and those in the public eye have a key role in helping us de-stigmatise the condition
BAFTA Television Awards
British Academy Television Awards 2007
Cleft Lip and Palate Association