Comedian Kevin Hart defended fellow funnyman Tony Hinchcliffe’s comedy routine from his roast on Tuesday’s episode of "The Breakfast Club," saying it might have been the best of the whole night.
The recent roast of Hart made waves for its no-holds-barred jokes that outraged people across the political spectrum, including jokes about the deaths of Charlie Kirk and George Floyd. Netflix's recent roast specials have been infamous for jokes about panelists' divorces, dead relatives and numerous other taboo topics.
During the night, Hinchcliffe made headlines by appearing to imply Floyd was watching the show from Hell, saying. "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."
Hart spoke candidly about the controversial and wildly popular roast to Charlamagne and the other hosts of "The Breakfast Club," saying, "Yeah, the George Floyd joke, it wasn't a tasteful joke to our culture, to our audience," Hart said. "But our audience that's watching the roast, if you're watching the roast, you get why they're doing it. You get why the racial humor is on the table."
"I wasn't shocked. Like, that's what they do!" he said, recalling a previous wild roast of a celebrity. "It happens every year when they do a roast. It's not new. This isn't a new agenda. It's not a new approach to comedy."
Charlamagne then directly asked. "Do you feel like Tony Hinchcliffe went too far when he made that joke about George Floyd?"
"It's Tony Hinchcliffe," Hart replied. "Like I don't expect less. I don't expect more."
Charlamagne noted that he did not wish to put words in Hart’s mouth, saying that from what he can tell, the argument is that for such roasts, jokes that go beyond the pale are entirely the point.
"Yes. That's why you're there," Hart replied. "And I hate to say this, but I'm going to because we're being honest. People are talking about that joke. Talk about his set. Tony Hinchcliffe arguably had the best set or one of the best sets."
"I was laughing out loud at Tony until that joke," Charlamagne said.
"I don't like when people joke about violent tragic death," Charlamagne added, noting that he felt similarly about a joke about Charlie Kirk’s death told by another comedian, Pete Davidson.
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"Pete had a great set too. Pete had a Charlie Kirk joke in it. Like, would I tell those jokes? No. But do I get why they're being told? Yes," he said. "Like, I'm not looking at Pete crazy. I'm not looking at Tony."
A co-host mentioned that she did an interview with George Floyd’s brother about the joke, and Hart responded that that sort of interview is not the kind of interview he would ever watch. His reply had Charlamagne doubled over with laughter. The co-host went on to mention the wish from Floyd’s brother that Hart would have stepped in to stop that particular joke.
"This is this is actually a good a good thing to give a rebuttal to. See, they talked about my they talked about my dead mom and my dead dad," Hart said, "Like I'm going to appreciate humor. I don't get affected by the intent of humor."
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He went on to mock the idea of halting his own roast or starting a fight because of a joke he found to be distasteful. He recalled attending Floyd’s funeral and meeting the family, and urging people to not blame him for jokes that he did not say.
Hart later revealed that he had a positive reconciliatory conversation with former NBA player Stephen Jackson, a childhood friend of Floyd who was critical of the joke. When Charlamagne asked why Hart did not lead by mentioning he did so, Hart argued it was absurd for that to be expected.
"I don't f---ing need to prove to people that I give a f---!" Hart yelled.
"Yes, you do," Charlamagne replied.
"No, I don't!" Hart said. "If you open that door, then that's the door that people expect all the time. Why the f--- do I need to do that?"
