You might not be able to tell from the brutal jokes the Comedy Central roasts have included over the years, but there were actually subjects that the people being roasted felt were off-limits. William Shatner reportedly prohibited anyone from making jokes about his late wife during his 2006 roast. And Charlie Sheen, who’d initially said he was cool with anything people wanted to throw at him, later requested that a remark about his mother be cut from his 2011 roast. For Joan Rivers, the only thing she asked people to avoid was making fun of her daughter, Melissa.
However, Greg Giraldo, who was on the dais the night Rivers was roasted back in 2009, had other ideas. When a joke about Melissa came up in the writer’s room, Giraldo couldn’t resist using it, especially considering that Melissa was famous herself and wasn’t a child. After taking the stage that evening, Giraldo hit the crowd with the following: “Joan and Michael Jackson had a lot in common. They both spent millions of dollars at the same plastic surgeon to look like a creepy old white lady. They’re both more popular now that they’re dead. And they both raised a chimp!”
As a result, Melissa reportedly grabbed her purse and stormed out of the venue immediately. For the next ten minutes, the show was shut down so that the producers could convince her to come back. As a consolation, they allowed Melissa to go up to the podium, even though she wasn’t on the dais, and say a few words. “Hey, thank you all for being here to honor my mom, and fuck you, Greg Giraldo,” she was quoted as saying.
Jeff Ross also remembered Melissa berating Giraldo and reminding him that she was supposed to be off limits. However, Ross says that every time he’s talked to Melissa since then, she’s looked back on the roast fondly. The footage of Giraldo making the chimp joke never made it into the final show, and Melissa’s rebuttal appears to have been removed as well.
To see what did make it into Giraldo’s set, you can check out the video below.
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