Kevin Hart has addressed the backlash surrounding a joke at his Netflix roast, after many stars criticised comedian Tony Hinchcliffe over a George Floyd comment.
Kevin Hart addressed critics over his Netflix roast
Kevin Hart has spoken out over his Netflix roast after a shocking joke about the late George Floyd left many stunned.
The Jumanji actor was the subject of a live roast on the streaming platform earlier this year, with Lizzo, Pete Davidson, Regina Hall and Sheryl Underwood among the big names taking aim at him.
However, stars and viewers watching from home were shocked when Tony Hinchcliffe referenced Floyd’s 2020 death in a biting comment, telling Hart: “The Black community is so proud of you… right now George Floyd is looking up at us all laughing so hard he can’t breathe.”
Reflecting on the evening during an appearance on the Breakfast Show on Tuesday, the Hollywood star branded the comments “distasteful”, but insisted that he wasn’t “shocked”.
Kevin was roasted in the live Netflix special(Image: GETTY/NETFLIX)
“Yeah, the George Floyd joke, it wasn’t a tasteful joke to our culture, to our audience,” he began. “But our audience that’s watching the roast, if you’re watching the roast, you get why they’re doing it. You get why the racial humour is on the table.
“I wasn’t shocked. That’s what they do. Go look at the Tom Brady one, that’s what they do. It happens every year when they do a roast. It’s not new. It’s not a new agenda, it’s not a new approach to comedy.”
Questioning if he believes that Hinchcliffe went “too far”, he replied: “It’s Tony Hinchcliffe. I don’t expect less. I don’t expect more.”
Show host Charlamagne discussed his own stance over the footage, telling his guest, “I don’t like when people joke about violent, tragic death”, before suggesting that Hart believed going too far “is the point”.
“Yes, that’s why you’re there,” the Central Intelligence star continued. “I hate to say this but I’m going to, because I’m being honest. People talking about that joke, talk about his set. Tony Hinchcliffe arguably had the best set – or one of the best sets.
“Pete [Davidson] had a great set, too. Pete had a Charlie Kirk joke in it. Would I tell those jokes? No. But do I get why they’re being told? Yes. I’m not looking at Pete crazy. I’m not looking at Tony. I know what you’re going to do. I know your style of comedy…
“I’m going to appreciate humour. I don’t get affected by the attempt of humour … Tony told a joke, it wasn’t a tasteful joke – to us. We didn’t like it, okay. F**k that joke, we move on. I don’t understand why we stand on a hill and it becomes this big thing … it doesn’t have to be that. Either you’re a fan of this level of content or you’re not. If you’re not a fan, then you don’t watch it.”
Tony Hinchcliffe’s “joke” didn’t go down well(Image: Matt Winkelmeyer, Getty Images for Netflix)
During the chat, Hart urged listeners not to blame him for the jokes made on the night, adding: “Whatever the dialogue is, my rebuttal is simplicity. Remove me from it. I didn’t say it. If you are upset that the night went on, that’s a different conversation. It’s nothing I could do. It’s a production. It’s a live production … Stop talking as if I said it.”
Chelsea Handler was among those slamming Tony and fellow comic Shane Gillis for their comments on the night, branding them “racist”, “bigots” and “sexist”.
“It was gross. I don’t find those jokes to be funny,” she said on Deon Cole’s Funny Knowing You podcast. “People are like, ‘It’s a roast, you go for it’. I’m like, ‘You can go for it without being gross.’”
Handler wasn’t the only famous face speaking out, as Marlon Wayans told Hollywood Unlocked: “You’ve got to understand, if you take it there, and you go there, and you get that ‘Ooooooh,’ you better make sure the laugh is worth the offense.
“That laugh doesn’t hit, and that meter falls fast in your face.”
“It just wasn’t funny enough, and in this case it’s too sensitive, and he didn’t find the right joke,” he added. “If you find the right joke and George Floyd’s family laughs, you did the right joke. If you go there, you better come out with some laughs, and his mother better be laughing the hardest.”
