Community activists in Minneapolis are demanding accountability, answers, and an apology for a joke about George Floyd during The Roast of Kevin Hart.
On Sunday, May 10, Hart was joined by his friends and fellow comics on stage at Kia Forum in Los Angeles. Since then, outrage has continued to grow over the Netflix special, with much of the anger directed at MAGA comic Tony Hinchcliffe.
While giving Hart a backhanded compliment, Hinchcliffe joked about George Floyd’s murder and suggested he is in hell.
“You’ve done good Kevin. The Black community is so proud of you. Right now, George Floyd is looking up at us all laughing so hard that he can’t breathe,” Hinchcliffe said to muted laughter from the audience.
Floyd was killed by a former Minneapolis police officer on May 25, 2020, touching off protests across the nation. Horrified bystanders recorded footage as Floyd’s life slipped away and he pleaded, “I can’t breathe.”
On Wednesday, activists held a news conference in Minneapolis in response to the roast. Civil rights attorney Nekima Levy Armstrong said Hinchcliffe’s joke opened old wounds as the community marks the six-year anniversary of Floyd’s death.
“Our community is still experiencing grief and trauma… and instead of allowing our community to grieve in peace, to celebrate George Floyd in peace, we have Netflix comedians making light of the brutal killing of George Floyd. It is unacceptable and it is unconscionable,” Levy Armstrong said.
In a lighthearted moment, the attorney told a joke of her own by referring to Hinchcliffe as “Tony Bitch-cliff.”
Trahern Crews, co-founder of Black Lives Matter Minnesota, also spoke at the gathering and compared the roast to a “minstrel show” — where white performers wear blackface.
Crews noted jokes about Melania Trump were off limits, which Variety reported, after speaking with a writer who said a sexually-suggestive joke about the first lady was cut from the show. Crews insisted the Black women at the roast were not shown the same respect.
“There were jokes that were supposed to be in the show about Melania Trump, but they wouldn’t allow that,” Crews said. “But it was okay for Sheryl Underwood to be called the B-word on Netflix. It was okay for Lizzo to be very disrespected on Netflix, but Melania Trump was untouchable.”
Underwood and Lizzo were among the celebrities roasting Hart, along with host Shane Gillis, Pete Davidson, Chelsea Handler, Draymond Green, Jeff Ross, The Rock, Tom Brady, Big Jay Oakerson, and Regina Hall.
A reporter reminded the protesters that comedians, including Hinchcliffe, have a right to free speech.
“Just because you can say something, doesn’t mean you should. That’s where human decency comes in. That’s where respect for our Black lives comes in,” Levy Armstrong replied.
The activists presented a list of demands. They are calling for Hinchcliffe to apologize to Floyd’s family. They want Netflix to address the controversy with a “public statement and accountability measures.” They want Hart to publicly condemn the George Floyd joke, and Netflix to remove it from the roast.
Netflix did not respond to Urban Hollywood 411’s request for comment on the protest.
Floyd’s family condemned Hinchcliffe’s remarks in a statement to blckpress.com.
“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 statement read.
“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.”
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