Comedian Kevin Hart has finally addressed the controversy surrounding his recent roast.
The star-studded event went viral earlier this month after several comics made racially charged jokes and remarks about the lynching of Black men and enslaved people.
Viewers deemed many of the jokes offensive and unnecessary, including one about George Floyd’s 2020 killing by police.
Critics also put the Hartbeat Productions founder, 46, in the hot seat for not shutting it down.
Instead of apologizing like some expected, Hart seemingly defended the fallout of his roast as an executive producer.
“The Black community is so proud of you,” comic Tony Hinchcliffe, 41, told Hart during the show before adding, “Right now George Floyd is looking up at us all, laughing so hard he can’t breathe.”
Following the backlash, Hart has spoken out about the crass humor of white comics like Hinchcliffe.
“The George Floyd joke, it wasn’t a tasteful joke to our culture, to our audience,” Hart stated on “The Breakfast Club,” which also streams on Netflix.
He said the people who watched and laughed understood what it means to attend a roast.
“You get why the racial humor is on the table. I wasn’t shocked. That’s what they do,” he added.
The father of four insists that telling jokes at a roast is not a “new agenda,” and sometimes anything goes.
Hart even defended Hinchcliffe’s joke about the late Floyd, a 46-year-old motorist who died after then-Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin knelt on his neck for over nine minutes in May 2020.
“People are talking about that joke. Talk about his set. Tony Hinchcliffe arguably had the best set or one of the best sets,” Hart claimed.
“Remove me from it I didn’t say it,” he continued about the backlash. “If you are upset that the night went on, that’s a different conversation it’s nothing I can do.”
“I’m not comprisimng the live production for the reaction of what? What do you want me to do? Drag him off? Want me to fight after?”
The conversation shifted to Floyd’s brother, Terrence Floyd, who didn’t like how his family’s tragedy became a punchline. Even more shocking, Hart attended Floyd’s memorial service six years ago.
Co-host Loren LoRosa directly asked Hart if he saw her interview with Terrence after the roast. The “Ride Along” actor joked he’d never watch.
Responding to Terrence’s complaint, Hart pointed out, “[The comedians] talked about my dead mom and my dead dad,” referring to Regina Hall.
Hart also said, “I’m going to appreciate humor. I don’t get affected by the attempt at humor. I get it. In this case, do more? It’s my production. We’re live. The ‘more’ is what? What is it that you expect me… You want me to take a live production and stand up and fight Tony or have a reaction?”
Plus, Hart unapologetically said, “The job at hand was to produce a successful roast, which I did.”
Hart tried distancing himself from the joke, but then brought up Stephen Jackson, George Floyd’s longtime friend.
He said he had “great conversation” with the retired basketball player Stephen Jackson, immediately after the roast. He said he told him, “I just want you to know from my side. That man is on his own.”
“Why you ain’t lead with that, Kevin? You should’ve been leading with that the whole time,” Charlamagne Tha God advised.
Hart quickly responded, “Because I don’t need to! I don’t f–king need to prove to people I give a f–k!”
Hart appeared confident in his defense until Jackson publicly complicated it.
In an Instagram video days after the roast, Jackson, 48, shared his thoughts about Hinchcliffe’s joke.
“Everybody’s laughing until it’s their family member that gets murdered, then it ain’t funny,” he stated. He closed his statement by calling the roast, “Clown s–t. Y’all keep laughing, though.”
Hart’s take on the controversy divided the internet, with many viewers calling for people to “cancel him immediately.”
“What do we expect him to say? He’s bought and paid for. Gotta keep his bosses happy,” a second critic of Hart theorized. A third commenter wrote, “My Boy took no accountability. No integrity. Sad bro.”
In contrast, a fan blasted, “Y’all mad at Kevin for something he didn’t say is wild. I don’t understand [people]. Y’all just be wanting to be miserable, that’s all.”
“I don’t really know how to feel about this. All I can say is his attitude here was not pleasant to watch,” one poster noted, focusing on Hart’s tone and demeanor on “The Breakfast Club.”
Previously, Hart survived being on the wrong side of public opinion over old tweets that cost him an Academy Award hosting gig and an infidelity scandal that morphed into an extortion scandal.
But Tony is feeling the wrath from fans online and Chelsea Handler, who blasted him this week for going too far.
“The writers just didn’t do her any justice,” Hinchcliffe said on his “Kill Tony” podcast. “But the fun fact, the teleprompter only went down during my set and it gave me a lot of opportunity to remind Chelsea Handler what she looks like and where her life is.”
Hinchcliffe did not address the George Floyd joke controversy.
