I feel like whenever journalists have negative opinions of comedians it is usually because they feel like the comedian crossed some sort of line. I have watched interviews of comedians and their responses to these negative opinions at first surprised me, but now I can understand where they are coming from. Many comedians will refuse to apologise and will stand firm behind their joke becuase either they don't feel like they did anything offensive or that their offensiveness wasn't harsher on any one group than another.
I have seen interviews conducted by both Joan Rivers and Jerry Seinfeld, two very seasoned comedy pros, of other comedians and when this subject comes up they usually share similar opinions. Maybe it's because they are jewish and have felt that their people have been opressed by many other races and cultures for thousands of years, but they feel little to no remorse making fun of other races along with their own. Of course racism is wrong, but what is as bad if not worse is the sweeping of it under the rug. With the bringing of light of the recent events at Mizzou, it is clear that a lot of the unrest is coming from the president of the school deciding to hide and not address the clear problems of racical inequality. I think that when most comedians point out racial differences that can be construed as racist, however comedians often times joke about things that are taboo in order to bring attention to a problem we as a society have. Comedians hold a mirror up to a laughing audience and askes why is this funny and why are we so afraid to hear it? There is a difference between racist humor and racial commentary humor. Some people are commenting saying that it's more ok for Key and Peele to mock their own race than it is for Tosh to mock it, but we have to keep in mind who is really making the joke. Key and Peele's writing staff consists of 6 males, 4 of which are white. Does this change the jokes making them any more or less racist? In my opinion, no.
