[tweet] Going to Africa. Hope I don't get AIDS. Just kidding. I'm white!

[purbeast0]

If she was a stand up comedian it wouldn't have been news from her either.

i dunno about that, look at the steve martin thread.

 

[Triumph]

Everyone can insult anybody they want. But as PR person you're being paid NOT to offend people. People pay comedians because they WANT to be offended.

If something is insulting, it's insulting, why does it matter where it's coming from?

 

[Ruptga]

If something is insulting, it's insulting, why does it matter where it's coming from?

It's the same reason that most porn exists, context is extremely important. If you were out shopping and you saw some guy handcuff some girl and start pushing her around, would you start fapping? The exact same thing happens in porn, then the tissues come out. If you were out in the park and you saw a cougar and her prey getting to know each other you'd probably NOPE and 180, even if you're normally a MILF guy online.

I realize it's not a perfect analogy, but the fact is that when emotional thinking is involved (lust, humor, whatever) context is vital.

Not that I intend all that as a reason to get butthurt over a bad joke, just explaining why dead baby jokes often fall flat but are sometimes hilarious.

 

[shortylickens]

If something is insulting, it's insulting, why does it matter where it's coming from?

To you and me? It doesnt matter at all.
To uppity overly sensitive people? It doesnt matter either.
To her boss? He only cares about her, no one else.

Its those few people in between who argue about shit like this. I guess a lot of them are on this forum.

I dont care what she said. She's not friend or sister or coworker. She isnt especially funny, so I wont be watching her stand up routine for entertainment. She's not in power in any way, no political connections, so I dont have to worry about her fucking up something important. I know theres dumbasses in the world, so this isnt exactly a shocking revelation. It affects me not at all.

It doesnt really affect blacks either, other than giving them something to focus their anger on. Its especially bad when people like Sharpton and Jackson use it to further their own careers.

 

[Exophase]

Why is it that comedians are allowed to make sarcastic, insulting comments, and no one else? So you aren't allowed to make funny, edgy jokes unless it is your proffession? Is that some sort of Comedians Union Local 238 protection racket thing going on?

Define allowed. As far as the law goes they're all allowed. Do you mean in terms of getting fired or getting public outrage?

PR executives of a large corporation are in a very different position from a stand-up comedian. They're a big public face both inside and outside their company and the things they say will be strongly coupled with the company's policies and disposition. A comedian isn't even necessarily working directly for someone at all, instead they're more likely to be freelance getting whatever jobs they want, and their audiences are pretty limited so they have a lot more opportunities to find work (if a star of a TV show tweeted this it's not out of the question that they'd lose that job)

The other thing is, if it's coming from a comedian people will be looking for the joke. Especially if it's coming from someone whose entire shtick is being satirical. Their entire job is to make people get the joke and make them laugh. The problem here is so few people seem to even realize that it could be sarcasm. I've been reading comments all over the place and I'm struggling to find anything beyond "stupid ignorant racist, fire her!", even on sites like Slashdot. People get that she's joking but that's about it, they all seem to uniformly think that the joke is at the expense of black people and AIDS sufferers. And it's hard to blame people since the tweet is very terse and confusing.

That said, comedians aren't totally immune from this sort of criticism. These internet scandals happen all the time and no one really cares about them for very long. For example: I remember people were outraged over this article a couple years ago (http://gizmodo.com/5833787/my-brief-okcupid-affair-with-a-world-champion-magic-the-gathering-player) but I so vaguely remembered the details now that I had to google around a while to even figure out what the problem was. On the other hand, people will probably remember Michael Richards going on a racist rampage to offend some hecklers for as long as he lives.