'The Office' Suicide Joke Offends Mental Health Groups

Offensive or get over it?

Most of us probably didn't think anything of the Halloween episode of The Office. In fact, most of us probably laughed our butts off. But when we stopped to hear what some mental health groups had to say, we realized the episode might not have been quite as harmless as we thought.

Of course, writers and producers of The Office didn't mean any harm by it. Anyone who watched the show knows there's some offensive humor, but it's usually just offensive in that Michael is being ignorant. And it's usually pretty laughable. But mental health groups aren't laughing about Michael fake hanging himself in the episode a couple weeks ago.

Michael Scott hangs himself as a Halloween joke and then says, "Kids, just remember, suicide is not the answer. It is the easy way out." Funny because it's Michael Scott. Not so funny if someone close to you has committed suicide or if you're contemplating it yourself.

The Executive Director of the AFSP said, "We're not trying to be censors or fall into the trap of wanting everything to be PC, politically correct.... But on the other hand, it's offensive to some people who have lost relatives to suicide by hanging."

We usually get annoyed when television shows are forced to be too PC, but we actually kind of understand this one. We know NBC didn't mean harm at all, and we love The Office's offensive humor, but we think they could have done tons of funny jokes without making fun of suicide. But on the other hand, Halloween is all about dressing up like dead people (and things) and being a bit offensive, so is this really a big deal?

What do you think of The Office's suicide joke? Do people need to lighten up or do they have a reason to be offended?

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