In a deeply split 5-4 decision, the Supreme Court of Canada has found that comedian Mike Ward did not discriminate against Jérémy Gabriel when Ward made Gabriel the butt of jokes in his comedy routine.
Chief Justice Richard Wagner, along with Justice Suzanne Côté, writing for the majority, found that Ward’s comments “exploited, rightly or wrongly, a feeling of discomfort in order to entertain, but they did little more than that.”
“There is certainly nothing uplifting in the fact that a popular, well-known comedian used his platform to make fun of a young man with a disability,” they continued. Nevertheless, “the question here is not whether Mr. Ward’s comments were in good or bad taste.”
