SNL writer 'suspended' for insensitive tweet on Donald Trump's son

The tweet posted drew severe backlash on social media, forcing the show to suspend the writer

A Saturday Night Live writer was suspended indefinitely after tweeting an "insensitive" joke about President Donald Trump's 10-year-old youngest son, Barron. Katie Rich, a writer for Saturday Night Live, has been suspended from her position following a widely criticised post she made on Friday on her personal Twitter handle wherein she mocked Barron Trump.

She was suspended immediately after her tweet, and her suspension is indefinite.

The tweet posted on Friday, during Trump's inauguration ceremony, drew severe backlash on social media, causing the comedian to not only delete the message (which said 'Barron will be this country's first homeschool shooter') a but also suspend her account. Her name did not appear in the closing credits of Saturday Night Live in its broadcast on Saturday.

On Monday afternoon, Rich reactivated her account and posted a message: "I sincerely apologise for the insensitive tweet. I deeply regret my actions & offensive words. It was inexcusable & I'm so sorry."

Barron, who will become the first boy since John F Kennedy Jr to live in the White House, had found support from Chelsea Clinton, with the former first daughter saying he "deserves the chance every child does - to be a kid."

The suspension of Rich, who was hired to join SNL at the end of 2013, comes at a delicate time for the program, when it has felt emboldened to lampoon Trump but has faced his swift retaliation on Twitter.

Following the show's broadcast of Jan 14, in which the actor Alec Baldwin played Mr. Trump in a parody of his news conference from earlier that week, Trump wrote on Twitter the following day:

"NBC News is bad but Saturday Night Live is the worst of NBC. Not funny, cast is terrible, always a complete hit job. Really bad television!"

OneIndia News