When the teen didn’t die of his illness, the comedian joked, he tried to drown him. This past week, the question of whether a comedian has the constitutional right to offend came under a national spotlight at Canada’s Supreme Court after Mr. Ward appealed a decision that the comedy routine discriminated against the singer, Jérémy Gabriel. The case, which has grabbed headlines, is a rare example of a comedy routine becoming the subject of the highest court in the land, and could have implications for free speech in Canada. Renée Thériault, executive legal officer at the Supreme Court, wrote by email that, to her knowledge, the case is “unprecedented.”Comedy has long reflected the cultural mores of a nation, sometimes exposing the fault lines in a society and testing the legal limits of acceptable speech. Canada and countries the world over, including the United States, have come under intensifying pressure to respect minority rights, spurring a debate of where to draw the line between harmful speech and freedom of expression.

Source: New York Times February 20, 2021 15:22 UTC