As many on los and ykwd said it was just comics shooting the ****. Didn't you see what yannis said?
I'm curious how many here actually listen to comedy podcasts.
Also any sense of moral indignation or outrage should be allayed heavily after seeing what Andrew Yang had to say about it.
And yeah, there tends to be consequences to being racist when shooting the ****. Again, where's the joke? What's the purpose? What's the difference between that and yelling " Hey ******! " and then turning around and saying it's a joke? Why would comedians be immune from criticism solely under the excuse of " comedy "? And how edgy or risky are you if all you expect for your work is complete acceptance?
This is really the crux of the dispute for me. If I could be convinced that he was legitimately making a valid, explainable joke that is merely misinterpreted (or even if he acknowledged that it isn't and is regrettable/to be avoided as a consequence of that), I would be entirely on the other side of this argument.
Otherwise, it's a complete bull-**** excuse that means nothing. "Hey man, he's just trying to be edgy and say things that will get a reaction in a fun, laid back, who cares about anything environment, he doesn't really mean it" is not a valid counter argument. I mean, if you can't even pass it off as believable legitimate comedic absurdism (which many of these unfairly censored comedian cases, such as that Guardians of the Galaxy guy, fall into), there isn't much of a real defense, IMO (unless you would genuinely argue the same thing for freedom of actual hate speech, which... fair enough, I guess-- at least that would be a consistent worldview).
Intentions are not the only factor worth considering here (this is what Andrew Yang's statement fails to consider, and I like the guy a lot). If I had a platform and could be definitively measured as "0% racist" but I randomly, directly and unambiguously communicated that all Chinese people should be murdered (purposely extreme case, but the exact same logic applies) without a touch of explainable irony (even in a laid back non-serious setting), that would still be problematic and necessary to be accountable for.
On top of that, while I'm inclined to believe that Yang's response was sincere, it's completely moronic to take his word on this as gospel or as some eye-opening revelation-- He's specifically running on a bi-partisan campaign to try to win by tackling the important issues without alienating anti-liberal/SJW conservatives who voted for Trump-- Politically and strategically, it's entirely in his best interests and on-brand to say what he said and not get on the nerves of people who HATE considering this kind of thing. Whether you agree with him or not, this "even HE, of all people, defended it" angle is completely unwarranted and laughable.