Should a bullying comedy routine be illegal? Canada’s high court may decide.

Listening to the joke now, in 2021, can be shocking.

He’s called ugly. The stand-up comic pokes fun at his hearing aid. The “he” in question was a 13-year-old boy named Jérémy Gabriel who has a disability. The comedian Mike Ward says that when he found out the child wasn’t dying, he tried to kill him.

Back then, in 2010, audiences roared. The bit was part of a popular routine attacking the “sacred cows” of Quebec society, including Mr. Gabriel, who was born deaf but against the odds learned to sing and became a Quebec sensation.

And now the Supreme Court of Canada must decide whether the routine discriminated against Mr. Gabriel, or whether it was a protected expression of Mr. Ward’s artistic freedom.

For those who are rallying behind Mr. Ward, including comedians and free speech advocates, many say they don’t necessarily like the joke. They wouldn’t tell it themselves. But they say the courts should not be deciding the legality of comedy