During a recent episode of SiriusXM Urban View, host Karen Hunter and author-comic Joel Christian Gill unpacked the increasingly messy fallout from “The Roast of Kevin Hart,” which somehow managed to include everybody from Chelsea Handler to Tony Hinchcliffe.
Hunter immediately zeroed in on Handler’s set. “Tony is what happens when women don’t have safe access to abortion care,” Handler said before comparing him and Shane Gillis to guys who spend Sundays “burn[ing] a cross on someone’s lawn.”
The comments landed especially hard because Hinchcliffe is still dragging controversy from his racist Puerto Rican jokes at a Trump rally appearance last year. Hunter, who called the entire roast “brutal,” noted that parts of it “did not sound like they were joking.”
Then came Katt Williams, who treated the roast like a live deposition.
“That’s how little star power you have,” Williams told Hart after joking producers had to “invite your enemies.” He also revived his long-running accusation that Hart copied his style, quipping, “Before he saw my act, he was a 6’3 white man.”
Gill argued the weirdest part of the night was the insistence on bringing controversial white comics into a roast centered around Hart. “People are tired of watching this,” he said, questioning why producers still believe Black entertainment needs white validation to crossover.
Online, the backlash spread beyond Williams’ set, including from Saturday Night Live writer, Michael Che.
“White guys and Black people joke different. Black guy roast like, ‘look at this n—- shoes!’ White roasts are like, ‘Slavery, math, slain teens, sex crimes, slurs, family secrets.’ White guys don’t give a f–k about they shoes,” Che tweeted.
Che was initially scheduled to appear on the telecast but pulled out due to scheduling difficulties. According to Variety, he was one of several comedians who backed out of the event.
Watch Hunter and Gill break it all down in the clip below.
