Don Cheadle seemingly checked a film executive who attempted to recreate the actor’s viral moment when comedian Kevin Hart joked with the actor about his age.
Back in 2021, the comedian Hart teased Cheadle about his age during an interview for his talk show “Hart to Heart.” A clip of their exchange immediately went viral as folks online didn’t realize the two were joking.
During a recent sit-down for Vanity Fair’s “The Black List,” Leonard tried to recreate the viral moment, but it did not go as smoothly as the first. In the original video, after Cheadle announced his then-age of 56, Hart responded with a succinct, “Damn!”
The “Hotel Rwanda” star pretended to be offended as Hart said, “I’m sorry,” adding that he didn’t mean it the way it sounded. Cheadle continued to tease him for sounding insensitive as the two actors went back and forth about Hart’s tone when he said the word “damn.”
After a fan was offended by Hart’s comment on social media and called him an “a- -,” Cheadle responded and let the fan know that the two men were kidding and encouraged her to watch the entire episode. The “Iron Man” actor also noted that he and the comedian always joke around, and he had previously told Hart that he looked like a “black-o-lantern in that suit.”
“EVERYBODY, please watch the entire episode,” he wrote. “On top of understanding that this is just how we play it’s a really good one, i think. the first question he asks me is, ‘drugs; do you do them?’ in the parking lot i said he looked like a black-o-lantern in that suit. it’s just us.”
Cheadle tried to oblige Franklin during his interview when he mocked the entire viral clip, but the moment didn’t have the same energy as with Hart.
“I feel like you and Samuel L. Jackson have been working for as long as I have been aware,” said Leonard.
“Okay, take it easy,” Cheadle interjected as he laughed. “Calm down, you’re not that much younger than me.”
Leonard asked, “How old are you?”
“Why? Why does it matter?”Cheadle replied. “You wanna do the Kevin Hart thing?”
“I’m trying,” said Leonard.
“Okay. Go again,” said Cheadle. “How old are you?” Leonard asked.
“Well, you know, right now, I’m 57 years old.”
“Damn!… I’m sorry. I’m sorry,” said Leonard. “Kevin did it, I thought maybe I can do it.”
“It wasn’t that good,” remarked Cheadle. “Do you wanna try again? Can we get a take-two? On these? No let’s try again.”
A seemingly embarrassed Leonard said, “I think we can move on.”
A clip of their interview was shared on Instagram by 2cool2bl0g, where commentators reacted, noting that it was just a joke.
“Dude a corn ball for doing that,” noted one.
“I think this whole scene was just a joke tbh. It’s content YALL take everything too seriously.”
“Don funny and clearly he didn’t mind dude trying to crack that joke again. I’m sure he wasn’t bothered by like others are.”
“Na dog. That damn was still funny as f—k,” added another.
Elsewhere in the interview, Cheadle talked about writing the theme song to “The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air” spinoff, “Bel-Air.”
