Kevin Hart just admitted that he “wasn’t shocked” by Tony Hinchcliffe’s controversial George Floyd joke which he made on Netflix’s Roast of Kevin Hart.
The 46-year-old star has reflected on and addressed the fierce backlash over the outspoken comedian’s jab referencing Floyd, who was murdered by police in 2020.
Speaking to Hart, Hinchliffe said, “The Black community is so proud of you. Right now, George Floyd is looking up at us all laughing so hard he can’t breath.”
Responding to the joke on The Breakfast Club podcast, Hart acknowledged, “Yeah, the George Floyd joke, 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.”
“You get why the racial humour is on the table. I wasn’t shocked. That’s what they do. Go look at [The Roast of] Tom Brady, like, that’s what they do. It happens every year when they do a roast. It’s not new,” the Jumanji star clarified.
Floyd’s brother Terrence Floyd has been openly critical of Hart for not stepping in after the joke, and he previously told the same podcast that he should have pushed back more.
Hart was asked whether or not he thought the Killing Tony star’s Floyd joke was “too far.”
However, he replied, “It’s Tony Hinchcliffe. I don’t expect less. I don’t expect more.”
And while the Ride Along actor admitted the material wasn’t something he’d have gone for, he wasn’t “crazy” about the jokes.
Hart added, “Tony Hinchcliffe arguably had the best set or one of the best sets. Pete [Davidson] had a great set, too. Pete had a Charlie Kirk joke in it.”
He continued, “Like, would I tell those jokes? No. But do I get why they’re being told? Yes. I’m not looking at Pete crazy. I’m not looking at Tony.”
“That’s what I know what you’re going to do. I know your style of comedy,” Hart stated.
Additionally, Kevin Hart has also called on fans to “remove” him from the conversation around the offensive material.
“Whatever the dialogue is, my rebuttal is simplicity. Remove me from it. I didn’t say it. If you are upset that the night went on, that’s a different conversation. It’s nothing I could do. It’s a production… Stop talking as if I said it,” he said of excluding him from the narrative.
