Almost as quick as he was hired, comedian Shane Gillis was fired from Saturday Night Live after videos surfaced of him using a racial slur. Gillis openly lambasted the Chinese, mocking their accents.

SNL decided that Gillis’ actions were reason enough to not bring him onto the show. The show’s executives sent out a statement that read in part,”The language he used is offensive, hurtful and unacceptable. We are sorry we did not see the clips earlier, and that our vetting process was not up to standard.”

With comedians like Dave Chapelle and Bill Burr recently releasing new stand-up material, the idea of “dark humor” has become more mainstream. All three said something completely against our politically correct society in the name of comedy.

While one could argue that what they’re doing/saying is satire, satire only goes so far. It’s hard to argue satire when someone like Gillis is mocking an entire culture.

If the only way a comedian gets laughs is by saying something inappropriately outrageous, they do no understand real humor. Being comedic doesn’t mean being outlandish. Being openly disrespectful in an effort to be funny should not fall under satire.

In Gillis’ video he is heard openly complaining about Chinatown, referring to noodles as “nooders” and openly mocking their service industry. At no point does he preface his words or hold any punches, he was openly racist all to get a few laughs.

In his apology, Gillis writes,” I’m a comedian who pushes boundaries, sometimes I might miss.”

However, as we enter a more PC world, “misses” that include denigrating an entire society aren’t just a normal mistake. Words have meanings and words have true consequences. Having a joke flop is nothing compared to spewing hate speech.

SNL is an opportunity to help comedians grow. Some have been able to translate their SNL success to big-time solo careers. The show is a privilege and not a right. Gillis abused his privilege.

Gillis should be given an opportunity to change and improve as a comedian and person. That being said, his one major “miss” deserved to cost him his spot on SNL.

A comedians role is to be funny, to make people laugh. However one does that is up to them. Yet, a comedian shouldn’t have to berate an entire community to tell a joke. It is ok to push boundaries – the funniest jokes are usually the least clean – however, there is a way to be respectful. Openly mocking another culture just shows that a comedian is unable to make jokes on their own and must resort to making people laugh due to shock factor.

It’s unlikely that Gillis truly hated Chinese people. However, in that moment, he made a decision that showed the true colors of some comedians and eventually cost him his role at SNL.