I've already said that I fervently believe that any comedian who isn't willing to stand up for offensive speech is probably a hypocrite; let's face it, the same thing goes for all artists.
Picasso said that art is the lie that forces us to see the truth. Art is fake news by creation. Art is built on a bedrock of lies and fables and yarns. They're constructed by hyperbole and imagination. The best art offends us--at least some of us. It challanges the orthodoxy. It questions what it is to be human. It makes us uncomfortable and scared and sometimes despondent. It can make us feel small or larger than life. Art is always risky. Artists need to stand naked in front of the world and subject ourselves to its whips and scorns.
The freedom to be offensive and daring and give a middle finger to the advocates of censorship and what they call "decency" is the heart and soul of art.
No, artists needn't be deliberate nor grotesque in our offensivness; but, we need to understand that those standards aren't objective and we must be free to test the boundaries.
Free speech and expression must be the most important moral value held by artists because that's where we live and thrive and ultimately die.