Come­dian Tracy Morgan, known for his role as Tracy Jordan on the sitcom “30 Rock,” was widely crit­i­cized ear­lier this month after he made homo­phobic com­ments during a comedy show in Nashville. Some argue that people shouldn’t be upset by come­dians’ offen­sive remarks. Others find this kind of comedy any­thing but funny. Here, North­eastern com­mu­ni­ca­tion studies lec­turer William Lan­caster sheds some light on why offen­sive comedy is so common — and what’s really wrong with it.