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If they really are overall decent but just say a nasty thing to advance the plot, then that's Jerkass Ball.
Could be Values Dissonance if this kind of discriminatory language was just considered normal at the time/place the work was made.
Seconding Jerkass Ball (in Seinfeld, it gets passed around the cast based on what would be funniest at the moment. Chandler is a Jerk with a Heart of Gold who tends to hold it most of the time, but he sets it down or passes it on occasion), and adding Unsympathetic Comedy Protagonist and Comedic Sociopathy as the larger concepts here: If Alice the Nice Gal falls down the stairs, it is sad. If Bob the jerk falls down the stairs, it is hilarious.
Edited by Scorpion451Finally got around to making this change more than 12 months later. Thanks Tropers/eroock - Politically Incorrect Hero turned out to be exactly what I needed.
Edited by DeesbyFi

I want to do some edits on some TV pages where the main characters will sometimes come out with casual homophobia or fat-shaming or other insulting commentary. They are overall sympathetic characters, so it's not Jerkass, but the comments certainly don't meet current societal standards, and barely met those standards when the show aired. Think Chandler from Friends, the cast of Seinfeld (on a good day).
Deadpan snarker isn't really it either, because it's not deemed funny.
Edited by DeesbyFi