It’s Saturday Night…Pause

January 23rd, 2017 – Saturday Night Live has suspended one of its writers, Katie Rich, after she made a joke about Barron Trump on her personal Twitter account.

“Barron will be this country’s first homeschool shooter,” she wrote on Friday as 10-year-old Barron watched his father become the 45th President of the United States.

Rich has been working for the show since the end of 2013, and, according to the New York Post, works closely on the “Weekend Update” segment.

The tweet quickly gained traction and drew comments only to be deleted by Rich hours later. Following the tweet delete, she deactivated her account, but SNL had suspended her immediately and indefinitely according to a source close to the situation but not authorized to speak for NBC.

On Monday, Rich had reactivated her account and issued an apology saying her offensive words were inexcusable.

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

SNL has long pushed the boundaries of taking jabs at public figures and has most recently gotten the attention of President Trump after ongoing impressions from Alec Baldwin. This joke from a writer’s personal account has only furthered the conversation of what topics are off limits to comedians. Engaging in that discussion were comics, parents, a former first kid and a former well-known intern.

SNL writer suspended for a tweet. But come on & host the show Trump! And dudes personal blogs about how harassment isn’t real, stay a while! — JEN KIRKMAN (@JenKirkman) January 23, 2017

The suspension of Katie Rich from SNL does not bode well for free speech. We should all be a little more scared than we were yesterday. — Nikki Glaser (@NikkiGlaser) January 23, 2017

Comedy Writer for Network That Helped Elect Trump, Suspended Indefinitely for Joke About Trump’s Son. — LISA CURRY (@lisa_curry) January 23, 2017

Barron Trump is off-limits for SNL. Learned lesson from that Wayne’s World sketch mocking Chelsea Clinton. https://t.co/beXCCjTBbR — Matthew Belloni (@THRMattBelloni) January 23, 2017

Barron Trump deserves the chance every child does-to be a kid. Standing up for every kid also means opposing @POTUS policies that hurt kids. — Chelsea Clinton (@ChelseaClinton) January 22, 2017

all children need to be protected from bullying + mockery. (incl #barrontrump). let’s be better than this. https://t.co/CH3IfdpQpu — Monica Lewinsky (@MonicaLewinsky) January 23, 2017

RETWEET if you agree: Barron Trump is a child and should never be attacked like the way he has been. pic.twitter.com/RRE4WsSvaN — Jack Murphy (@RealJack) January 23, 2017

Barron Trump is off limits. Period. Beat up on a kid in my timeline and be reported for abuse. — Tarah Wheeler (@tarah) January 22, 2017

A rep for SNL has told Fox News that NBC won’t be commenting on the incident though plenty in the public eye are continuing the conversation. A petition on Change.org calling for NBC to fire Rich has over 91,000 signatures as of Monday afternoon.

Katie Rich’s joke raises a lot of questions that constantly circle humor and where it crosses the line. Who and what are off limits to comedians? Should someone lose their job as a comedic writer over a joke? Give us your thoughts, examples, opinions and defenses.