Reply #17: The headline is way more inflammatory than the joke is...

[ljm2002]

...although I do question the advisability of telling any ethnic-based joke in a public setting like that -- fraught with peril, as we see in this case.

It is true that jokes like this can be told by a member of the ethnic group in question. That is always different. Back when I was a kid and still Catholic, I remember that we could tell priest jokes, while we would become defensive if some non-Catholic would tell the same joke.

I've had Jewish and Italian jokes told to me by Jewish- and Italian-Americans, and again, I would not feel free to tell the same jokes.

Anyway, from reading the joke / funny story in its entirety, I do not find this as scandalous as it appeared from the headline.