‘Saturday Night Live’ has suspended one of its writers, Katie Rich, after she tweeted about the new president Donald Trump’s 10 year old son Barron, predicting he will be “this country’s first homeschool shooter”.

Rich, who was hired by NBC’s long-running satirical sketch show at the end of 2013, is believed to have suspended from her post indefinitely, in a decision the programme made shortly after the post she shared on Friday (January 20th), the day of Donald Trump’s inauguration, received a barrage of criticism.

Although she quickly deleted the post and subsequently hid all her social media accounts from public view, her name did not appear in the credits of last weekend’s edition of ‘SNL’.

Melania and Barron TrumpBarron Trump with mother Melania, pictured in 2013

On Monday (January 23rd), Rich emerged from hiding to reactivate her Twitter account and post an apology for her actions. “I sincerely apologise for the insensitive tweet. I deeply regret my actions & offensive words. It was inexcusable & I’m so sorry.”

Now in its 41st season, ‘Saturday Night Live’ has been making great mileage over the last six months through mocking Donald Trump’s campaign and policies, which has drawn the ire of the president himself.

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10 year old Barron, the son of Donald and First Lady Melania, is the first boy to reside in the White House since John F. Kennedy Jr. While presidents are generally considered to be fair game for criticism even when it comes to their personal lives, presidential children are conventionally off-limits for this kind of thing.

“Barron Trump deserves the chance every child does – to be a kid,” said former First Daughter Chelsea Clinton about the controversy over the weekend. “Standing up for every kid also means opposing POTUS policies that hurt kids.”

CNN, certainly no fan of Trump over the last 18 months, agreed with the sentiment. “That it even need be said is ridiculous, but mocking the 10-year-old child of a politician you loathe is odious, immoral, & self-defeating,” said its presenter Jake Tapper.

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