Comedian Dressed as Joe Paterno For Roseanne Roast

Comedian Jeffrey Ross showed up on the Red Carpet for Comedy Central’s Roast of Roseanne Barr dressed as Joe Paterno with two shirtless guys wearing only helmets and towels.

He told reporters on the red carpet, “If they’re offended by what they see, they can do what Joe Paterno did — look the other way.” Zing!

Although the hilarious Joe Pa gimmick was overshadowed by his delivery of a Colorado Movie Theater Shooting joke attacking actor Seth Green.

“Seth, congratulations. This is actually a great night for you,” Ross said. “You haven’t gotten this much attention since you shot all those people in Aurora. … I’m kidding. You are not like James Holmes. At least he did something in a movie theater that people remember!”

Reports are that there was an audible gasp from the crowd and the joke will be cut from Comedy Central’s airing of the special.

After the show Ross told NBC News, “yes, I crossed a line, and that is what the roasts are about…I think that this particular roast — in these particular times we are in — it is important to exercise freedom of speech,” he added. “Comedians are apologizing a lot. I am not saying that is right or wrong. But it scares me when I start second guessing myself. So I wanted to put it out there and remind people what America is about — and on some level, what the roasts are about.”