Satire - clever or veiled bigotry?

Those in the know will have spotted that my avatar is Australian Satire genius, Chris Lilley. He's portraying one-hit wonder formula rapper - S.Mouse.

http://theconversation.com/mockumentarys-beautiful-confusion-animates-chris-lilleys-angry-boys-1212

I was having this convo the other day with this friend who HATES Chris Lilley and thinks he's a racist. I SO disagree. I think Satire can be really clever and fills an important role in society - gently highlighting weaknesses and shortcomings in all of us in such a way that we can resolve to correct them.

The only time I think Satire fails, is when the real message is not communicated clearly enough. In those cases it really does come off badly.
Chis Lilley always makes certain aspects of his stories really poignant. You can't help but connect with his message. Where he might fall down is that his caricatures are often really polarising right out of the gate and a lot of people might get offended before they even realise it is satire.

nzlockie: I also have to say, (and Shelley will back me up on this) he NAILS Jonah Takaloa! I know 100 kids JUST like him. It's uncanny.

nzlockie: I don't think satire is racist at all, as long as it is done in good humor, with no malicious intent.
There used to be a lot of fire at Fox for having cartoons that stereotyped races, like "Family Guy", "The Simpsons", and "American Dad", and I never got all the angry people who would strike at their headquarters. It seemed like they had no taste in humor.

I have seen meaningful satire being incredibly offensive and seemingly racist before, a good example being Stephen Foster's American Minstrel Shows.

Blackflag: I think family guy and Simpsons are satirical on VERY RARE occasions

Satire should always have a point, making light of a stereotype is not making a point.

I'm a huge fan of Jonah, I don't think it's racist at all. There is a place for satire. I don't really like animation using satire or stereotyping, simply because children are attracted to these and don't have a sophisticated enough mind to realise the satire. Some adults don't either, but they would tend to be bigoted anyway with or without the influence of any animation.

And I just hate family guy and American dad anyway. They're both rubbish.

sea_shell: I am not a fan of either....... anymore. Family guy used to have some class, but I just don't understand the humor anymore.

Well, I had a long, thoughtful, and detailed post about racism and bigotry, but it got deleted.
I'll have the motivation later.

Just to throw in my 2 cents: I totally enjoy laughing at other cultures. I also enjoy laughing at the absurdities in my own culture. I think the problem is that many people can't distinguish between mocking somebody and laughing at somebody's culture. Sometimes that's the audience, and sometimes it's the comedian itself. I do think there can be value in something that's entertaining without there necessarily being some kind of message - on the very explicit proviso that there is also no message of "it's a bad thing to be of that culture" - because entertainment makes people happy. Utilitarianism in action.

Everything I just said for culture works for other types of satire as well. Importantly, I think satire can only be directed at things that are actually quite empirically true but potentially sufficiently absurd to be humorous, though I would extend this to mocking commonly held stereotypes as well (like in Flight of the Conchords).