Ask Lemmy

Using slurs or tackling sensitive topics in dark humor is a high-difficulty craft. It requires a deep understanding of the subject, your audience, and enough cultural context to frame the joke appropriately. When done well, it can break through prejudice, fear, and cultural boundaries, leaving the audience with a deeper understanding of the human condition. The Boondocks and South Park come to mind as examples (then again, even those sometimes miss the mark). This is true not only in comedy, but most all forms of art.

However, as many people here have already pointed out, those who evangelize "dark humor" are often just using it as a shield to hide bigotry and normalize prejudice. Or otherwise are attempting to use shock, at the expense of others, to derive a cheap laugh. In all of these cases, the harm caused runs in direct opposition to the value of comedy, and should be treated with the same disdain it shows for its victims.

So to answer your question: yes, I'm okay with all forms of humor meant to bring people together and lift each other up, including dark humor. But knowing myself, my audience, and how my background affects how my jokes are perceived, I would not be able to pull such humor off gracefully or with the respect it deserves. Nor do I have any desire to use, or see any personal value or utility in using, slurs in any context. Instead, I use humor I can pull off to make those around me feel safe, comfortable, and able to laugh together. Which again, should be the goal imho.