Quebec’s Appeal Court is hearing arguments about whether a comedian who joked of drowning a disabled boy should have to pay damages to the child and his family.

The Quebec Human Rights Tribunal ruled in 2016 that Mike Ward made discriminatory comments about Jérémy Gabriel’s disability during shows between 2010 and 2013. The tribunal ordered him to pay $35,000 in moral and punitive damages to Gabriel and $7,000 to his mother.

Gabriel has Treacher Collins syndrome, a congenital disorder characterized by skull and facial deformities. He became a minor celebrity in Quebec after he sang with Céline Dion and for the Pope.

Ward joked that he thought Gabriel’s illness was terminal and people were only nice to him because he would soon die. Ward joked that after he realized the child was not going to die, he tried to drown him.

The comedian’s lawyer, Julius Grey, told the three-judge appeal panel today that his client wanted to make fun of the fact that speaking badly of Gabriel was considered taboo.

Grey says the joke was not discriminatory but offensive, and offensive comments must be protected in a free and democratic society.

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