Kevin Hart is defending Tony Hinchliffe’s roast jokes that Chelsea Handler branded “racist.”
During “The Roast of Kevin Hart,” which aired on Netflix earlier this month, Hinchliffe, who is white, said to the man of the hour, “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.”
Floyd, a black man, was murdered by a white police officer in May 2020, igniting widespread outrage and newfound awareness of ongoing racial issues in the US.
Many viewers were shocked and offended by the remark, but not Hart.
“It wasn’t a tasteful joke to our culture, to our audience, but our audience that’s watching the roast, if you’re watching the roast, you get why they’re doing it,” the 46-year-old explained to Charlamagne tha God and Loren LoRosa on “The Breakfast Club” Tuesday.
“You get why the racial humor is on the table. I wasn’t shocked. Like, that’s what they do. Go look at the Tom Brady one. Like, that’s what they do. It happens every year when they do a roast. It’s not new. This isn’t a new. It’s not a new agenda. It’s not a new approach to comedy.”
When Charlamagne asked Hart whether he felt Hinchcliffe, 41, “went too far when he made that joke about George Floyd,” the actor replied, “It’s Tony Hinchcliffe. Like, I don’t expect less, I don’t expect more.”
He agreed with Charlamagne’s take that “going too far is the point,” elaborating, “That’s why you’re there.”
Hart even argued that Hinchliffe had one of the “best sets” of the night and pointed out that he wasn’t the only comedian to make light of a specific death, as Pete Davidson joked about assassinated right-wing commentator Charlie Kirk.
“Like, would I tell those jokes? No. But do I get why they’re being told? Yes,” Hart insisted. “Like, I’m not looking at Pete crazy. I’m not looking at Tony crazy. Like, that’s what I know what you’re going to do. I know your style of comedy.”
The married father of four — whose past affair was another hot topic throughout the evening — claimed he doesn’t “get affected by the attempt at humor” and has learned the art of “mov[ing] on” when he doesn’t find something or someone to be funny.
“I don’t understand why we stand on a hill, and it becomes this big thing of, ‘They’re attacking the culture.’ It doesn’t have to be that. It literally is either you’re a fan of this level of content or you’re not,” Hart said.
He also made sure to point out that he’s not the one who made the Floyd joke and asked to be “remove[d]” from the narrative.
“If you are upset that the night went on, that’s a different conversation. It’s nothing I can do. It’s a production. It’s a live production,” he told Charlamagne and LoRosa.
“I’m not compromising the live production for a reaction of what? What do you want me to do? I’m gonna drag him off. You want me to fight afterwards? … That’s not what I agreed to do. That’s not the job at hand. The job at hand was to produce a successful roast, which I did.”
However, Handler — who delivered her own set during the roast — begs to differ, as she blasted both Hinchliffe and fellow white comedian Shane Gillis for their controversial sets.
“They’re racists. They’re bigots. They’re sexist,” the 51-year-old claimed last week on the Deon Cole’s “Funny Knowing You” podcast, arguing that comedians can “go for it without being gross.”
Sheryl Underwood, who also delivered a set during the roast, later told “Entertainment Tonight” she understands why so many people were “upset” with several of Hinchliffe and Gillis’ jokes.
“I want to get to know what is in your brain that makes you think this is OK?” she said, revealing that she told Hinchcliffe afterward, “You gotta deal with the Floyd family, and they got hands. You’re talking about someone’s relative.”
Meanwhile, “Saturday Night Live” star Michael Che — who was scheduled to deliver a set during the roast but ended up dropping out at the last minute — was critical of the show for similar reasons.
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