The internet is still buzzing about The Roast of Kevin Hart, which streamed live on Netflix this past Sunday (May 10). As one would expect, the show contained a fair amount of racial humor directed toward Hart.
Take, for example, this zinger from roastmaster Shane Gillis: “Kevin’s so short that they’re gonna have to lynch him from a bonsai tree.” According to Gillis, he spent three weeks debating whether to tell that one.
Hart took the joke in stride and even shook Gillis’s hand right after, but it was far from the first time the comedian had a joke pertaining to his race aimed at him. In fact, Hart had a run-in with a roast veteran over a decade ago that may have helped soften the blow this time around.
Back in 2015, the Ride Along star attended a star-studded Vanity Fair party that the legendary Don Rickles also happened to be at. Someone approached Hart at one point and told him that Rickles was a big fan and wanted to meet him, and Hart jumped at the opportunity.
The Don Rickles Joke That Made Kevin Hart Leave a Vanity Fair Party
When Rickles came face-to-face with Hart, he gave him a hug and tapped him on the cheek before saying, “Look at you, you’re like a cute little monkey.” “I don’t want to sit here and tell people that Don Rickles just pissed me off,” Hart told NPR a few years later. After snapping a picture with Rickles, Hart decided to take off. “It’s very easy for me to leave. It’s very easy to say at that moment, ‘Hey, this ain’t for me. I’m out,’” Hart explained.
Speaking with Howard Stern in 2021, Hart said he now laughs about the incident and credits it as a moment that helped make him the man he is today. Hart shared similar sentiments during an interview with Jerry Seinfeld from that same year. And though he acknowledged that the monkey remark wasn’t cool, he said that it wasn’t malicious, either, and was merely a reflection of the era Rickles came up in. You can listen to the full Seinfeld segment below.
The post Before Kevin Hart Got Roasted on Netflix, Don Rickles Hit Him With a Joke He Never Forgot appeared first on VICE.
