Former Chicagoan and Second City alum Katie Rich was suspended from her writing position on Saturday Night Live after she posted a tweet on January 20 in which she joked that Barron Trump, the ten-year-old son of President Donald Trump, “will be this country’s first homeschool shooter.” Rich apologized on Twitter, but the the initial tweet and SNL‘s disciplinary action has sparked debates about the apparent double standard of who gets reprimanded for posts on social media, censorship of comedians (and the pressure to self-censor), and whether a child, even if he happens to be the son of the president of the United States, is fair game for humorists.
I sincerely apologize for the insensitive tweet. I deeply regret my actions & offensive words. It was inexcusable & I’m so sorry.
— Katie Rich (@katiemaryrich) January 23, 2017
Current mood: #barrontrump pic.twitter.com/7tXe7XHz2Q
— Edward ZO (@EdwardZo) November 9, 2016
Noll acknowledges that the landscape for jokes is shifting. “Katie Rich getting suspended is troubling to me as a comedian,” she says. “Twitter, to me, seems like a forum where comics put out jokes that wouldn’t work on stage, which makes it a really strange platform because people’s subconscious is now on a public platform.”
