Former exec. of South Carolina GOP defends mocking Trayvon Martin's death

Former South Carolina GOP executive director Todd Kincannon on Monday defended a series of provocative, racially-charged tweets he sent out during the Super Bowl.

Kincannon told HuffPost Live that mocking the death of Trayvon Martin and "the poors" during Hurricane Katrina was just "high-profile trolling." He said he didn't understand why the killing of Trayvon was political and insisted joking about the Florida teen's demise was fair because of all the people who said "insensitive things" about his killer, George Zimmerman.

"I think it is funny to make jokes that enlighten people on political problems," Kincannon said. He added the purpose of satire "sometimes is to offend people, to teach a lesson."

"I think it is time for a conversation in this country about why a conservative isn't allowed to state an opinion that other people happen to disagree with, without having death threats and being threatened with all kinds of various ridiculous things," he continued. "This is real problem we have. People talk about political discourse in this country -- you might think what I said was tasteless, you're welcome to. But should I get death threats as a result of it?"

Kincannon tweeted on Sunday night: "This Super Bowl sucks more dick than adult Trayvon Martin would have for drug money." Later, during a power outage, he added: "It hasn't been this dark in the Superdome since all those poors occupied it after Hurricane Katrina."

Watch video, courtesy of HuffPost Live, below: