--- description: Breaking news and analysis from time.com. Politics, world news, photos, video, tech reviews, health, science, and entertainment news. title: Katt Williams: Art Is All About Intent image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt93ae110934c58892/6988632e524fc0c286df4752/question-everything-offensive-art-katt-williams.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 --- Sep 11, 2015 # Art Is All About Intent by Katt Williams  NEW YORK, NY - JULY 10: Actor Haley Joel Osment discusses his new series "The Spoils Before Dying" at AOL Studios In New York on July 10, 2015 in New York City. (Photo by Adela Loconte/WireImage) NEW YORK, NY - JULY 10: Actor Haley Joel Osment discusses his new series "The Spoils Before Dying" at AOL Studios In New York on July 10, 2015 in New York City. (Photo by Adela Loconte/WireImage)AP; Photo Illustration by Mia Tramz for TIME It’s a difficult question because it puts forth the idea that there’s some committee that can decide what’s objectionable and what’s not. Then you’re having a conversation about censorship. As a comedian, if I use foul language, am I participating in objectionable art? Comedians are taught that nothing is off-limits and censorship is the ultimate evil. But not everything qualifies as art. My intent is to do the conversation a service, and that’s the difference between art and dressed-up propaganda. Nazis don’t get to have beautiful paintings that degrade Jewish people. It won’t manifest right because the intent is wrong. The racist art that depicted black people as subhuman was really the advertisement to make that happen. It is about intent. Art enhances a society, and that is how it gets to be art. _Williams is a comedian and rapper_ ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"Article","@id":"https://time.com/collections/question-everything/4029901/katt-williams-can-offensive-art-be-great/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/collections/question-everything/4029901/katt-williams-can-offensive-art-be-great/"},"headline":"Katt Williams: Art Is All About Intent","datePublished":"2015-09-11T17:43:36.000Z","dateModified":"2026-03-02T23:08:45.495Z","description":"Nothing is off-limits","url":"https://time.com/collections/question-everything/4029901/katt-williams-can-offensive-art-be-great/","keywords":["Question Everything"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt93ae110934c58892/6988632e524fc0c286df4752/question-everything-offensive-art-katt-williams.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"TIME Staff","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/time-staff/"}],"creator":"TIME Staff","articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt93ae110934c58892/6988632e524fc0c286df4752/question-everything-offensive-art-katt-williams.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/collections/question-everything/4029901/katt-williams-can-offensive-art-be-great/","name":"Katt Williams: Art Is All About Intent"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Question Everything: Can Racist or Sexist Art Be Good?","description":"TIME hit the streets to ask New Yorkers several offbeat questions designed to provoke and prod the brain.","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/cDnAE0dP/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2015-09-18T14:45:39.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/cDnAE0dP.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/collections/question-everything/4029901/katt-williams-can-offensive-art-be-great/","duration":"PT1M9S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/collections/question-everything/4029901/katt-williams-can-offensive-art-be-great/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```