A recent joke about George Floyd may not have been to comedian Kevin Hartâs liking, but he is defending the comic who said it.
The joke was delivered at Netflixâs âRoast of Kevin Hartâ earlier this month.
Hart said he didnât like the joke from Tony Hinchcliffe, but he he understands why Hinchcliffe told it given the event â a Roast.
âThe George Floyd joke, it wasnât a tasteful joke to our culture, to our audience, but ⊠if youâre watching the Roast, you get why theyâre doing it,â Hart said on âThe Breakfast Club.â âYou get why the racial humor is on the table. I wasnât shocked â thatâs what they do! Go look at the Tom Brady . It happens every year when they do a Roast.â
âThe black community is so proud of you,â Hinchcliffe said to Hart at the roadt. â⊠Right now, George Floyd is looking up at us all laughing so hard he canât breathe.â
âPeople are talking about that joke,â Hart said. âTalk about the set! Tony Hinchcliffe arguably had the best set, or one of the best sets.â
âIâm going to appreciate humor,â Hart continued. âI donât get affected by the attempt of humor. I get it.â
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Hart also said he was not sure what people wanted him to do.
âWhat is it that you expect ⊠to take a live production and stand up and fight Tony, or have a reaction? ⊠Tony told a joke, it wasnât a tasteful joke to us. We didnât like it. OK, âHey man, f*ck that joke!â We move on.â
âIt literally is, either youâre a fan of this level of content, or youâre not,â he said. âAnd if youâre not a fan, then you donât watch it.â
In 2018, Hart was picked to host the Oscars, but was threatened to be dropped if he didnât apologize over past jokes that some deemed homophobic.
Though he did ultimately offer a public apology, Hart initially refused to apologize and said he had already addressed the old jokes in the past.
âSo, I just got a call from the Academy, and that call basically said, âKevin, apologize for your tweets of old or weâre gonna have to move on and find another host,ââ he recalled at the time. âI chose to pass. I passed on the apology.â
âThe reason why I passed is because Iâve addressed this several times,â he said. âThis is not the first time this has come up. Iâve addressed it. Iâve spoken on it. Iâve said where the rights and wrongs were. Iâve said who I am now versus who I was then. Iâve done it. Iâm not gonna continue to go back and tap into the days of old when Iâve moved on and Iâm in a completely different space in my life.
âYou live and you learn and you grow and you mature,â he added. âIâm in a space where all I can do is be better as a human being.â
Hart later said that he was sorry that he âhurt people.â
He did not host the Oscars because he did not want to be a âdistraction.â
