The Secret Policeman's Ball

I was watching this last night. A lot of it was very good, one thing did strike me though. A few of the acts (two, I think) made jokes about rape. At the end of the show, Jeremy Irons got up and asked any man who has ever used the internet to stand up. He then went on to say about a man who was arrested for writing about how he disagrees with the Tunisian government's policies about such and such on the internet. He then asked any woman who has ever been a student to stand up. He then went on to say about a law student (sorry, can't remember where it was)who was found dead in her car and there was evidence of sexual violence. I may be the only one who thinks this but doesn't joking about rape literally minutes before he made this point kind of lessen the effect?? Doesn't it kind of dampen the effectiveness of the point Mr Irons was making?

Since when was rape something to laugh about anyway?