In BBQ, why mod a hint at a racist joke but not an actual racial slur?

[BigT]

@Max_S

@Northern_Piper

What rule does it break if it’s used in GD?

This one,

@Jonathan_Chance

Hate speech, racist epithets and racism The use of racial epithets, pejoratives, slurs, and other similar items is forbidden. Hate speech as a whole, however, can be defined broadly or narrowly depending on the context of any individual thread. The definition of context is entirely at the discretion of the moderation staff.

Specifically,

The use of racial […] slurs[…] is forbidden.

~Max

Except you just previously quoted a rule saying that the mods determine which words are hate speech, and the mods have clearly decided this one isn’t.