Kareem Abdul-Jabbar explains the difference between art and racism in comedy

Sports and media legend Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, as usual, makes more sense than anyone else who has spoken on the matter of SNL hiring and firing a comedian who relies on bullshit racism for laughs.

Hollywood Reporter:

...The weakest of all defenses in his case is that hes a comedian who pushes boundaries. Hes right that artists push boundaries of cultural conventions. Lenny Bruce, Dick Gregory and Richard Pryor were all boundary pushers. The difference between an artist and an artisan is the artists willingness to poke at the audiences comfort level in an effort to unveil weaknesses, discrepancies and hypocrisies. Not everyone appreciates having their values questioned. Thats why its important that we give artists plenty of leeway to sincerely explore their interpretation of humanity. The goal of the artist is to bring people together by showing us our similarities through our weaknesses, even when we are reluctant to acknowledge them. At the same time, we are under no obligation to financially support self-proclaimed artists, like Shane Gillis, whose work promotes hatred toward groups based on ethnicity, gender identity and religion. Gilliss humor doesnt so much expand boundaries as shrink them back to where they were in the 1950s.

His failure does not mean subjects now should be taboo or that we should not have comedy that offends. Ricky Gervais is able to make comical fun of religion, Atlanta has poignant and hysterical observations about race, Sarah Silverman is riotous about sexual politics, Will and Grace and Tig Notaro are hilarious about the LGBTQ community.