Comedy is officially dead. No white person can ever make a joke that involves a person of color (even if that joke has nothing to do with race whatsoever) because they'll be accused of racism.

On Monday, comedian and congenial talk-show host Ellen DeGeneres tweeted a joke that involved a photoshopped image of her riding on Olympic runner Usain Bolt's back.


Even though this tweet clearly had nothing to do with race, the outrage brigade went into full force - and has continued on into Wednesday. DeGeneres was accused of racism because slavery used to be a thing in the U.S. and her photo involved her, a white person, riding on the back of Bolt, who is black. Forget the fact that anyone could imagine DeGeneres making a similar joke if the fastest man — or woman — on earth was white.

DeGeneres followed up that tweet with a clip from one of her shows last year, which featured Bolt hilariously losing a race to a young YouTube star. After the racism complaints began, DeGeneres tweeted she was aware of the racism that exists in this country and that was "the furthest thing from who I am."

Her responses didn't matter, the outrage is still going strong even though it's been several days since the tweet was sent. What do people want from her? She's already responded to the criticism. She didn't apologize, but why should she? Her tweet wasn't offensive, wasn't meant to be offensive, and it's not her fault some miserable people just want to find offense everywhere they look.

We're at a point in this country where people have become so sensitive society can't advance. We can never get beyond racism or sexism when people find it where it doesn't exist and accuse people like DeGeneres of engaging in it.

Ashe Schow is a commentary writer for the Washington Examiner.