Chelsea Handler is torching fellow comics Shane Gillis and Tony Hinchcliffe for “racist” and “sexist” jokes at The Roast of Kevin Hart.
Handler shared her thoughts about the Netflix roast on the Wednesday, May 20 episode of Deon Cole’s “Funny Knowing You” podcast.
The Chelsea Lately star tore into Gillis and Hinchcliffe for low-hanging, “lazy” quips about her age — she’s 51 — as well as for joking about lynching, slavery, and the police killing of George Floyd.
Related: Backlash Grows as Minneapolis Activists Compare Kevin Hart Roast to ‘Minstrel Show’
Handler said Hart is a good friend and should have gotten a more “elevated roast,” than the “gross” jokes delivered on stage.
“There was so much disgustingness, I knew it was gonna be a gross vibe,” she told Cole.
Handler was one of the comedians on the dais, and said MAGA comic Hinchcliffe and host Gillis were not a good fit.
“They’re racists, they’re bigots, they’re sexist. They think they’re invincible,” Handler said. “I don’t find those jokes funny. Lynching Black people is not a joke. It’s worse than rape.”
The roast has continued to generate controversy, with some critics even calling out Hart for laughing at the most offensive punchlines.
You may recall two years ago, Tom Brady snapped at “Roastmaster” Jeff Ross, and told him “don’t say that s–t again,” when Ross fired off a racy joke at the NFL star’s Netflix roast.
That wasn’t the case with Hart, prompting some critics on social media to brand the Central Intelligence star a “sellout.”
Black viewers in particular have asked why Hart did not object when Gillis said: “Kevin Hart is so short that they’re gonna have to lynch him from a bonsai tree.”
Hinchcliffe drew outrage for telling Hart: “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.”
The joke triggered a protest in Minneapolis where Floyd was killed, and it was condemned by Floyd’s family.
“We understand that roasts are meant to push boundaries and that comedians often use shock humor, but the comment made by comedian Tony Hinchcliffe about George Floyd was deeply disappointing and, in our opinion, in very poor taste,” the family said in a statement to blckpress.com.
“When [George] said ‘I can’t breathe’ and cried out for his mother during the final moments of his murder, it was not a joke. It was fear, pain, darkness, and heartbreak, and those words impacted millions of people across the world.”
We previously reached out to Netflix about the backlash but never heard back. You can watch Handler’s interview here. She talks about the roast at the 32:00 mark.
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