We all know that celebrity roasts are built on insult comedy, shock value, and the idea that nothing is off-limits.
Going into The Roast of Kevin Hart, which aired on Netflix this past weekend, everyone expected to hear some NSFW zingers, but at its heart, it would be a celebration of the comic actor. Instead, the event has the internet turned out over jokes that many viewers considered racist, mean-spirited, lazy, and worst of all, unfunny.
Problems started out of the gate with the selection of host Shane Gillis. Already considered a controversial figure in the comedy world, he was fired from what would have been his first season on Saturday Night Live in 2019 after racist and homophobic slurs from an old podcast resurfaced.
While roast humor is designed to make you feel uncomfortable, rattling off that Hart’s “ancestors came to America in a slave ship in a bottle” seemed insensitive and dangerous in a current political climate that’s trying to legitimize that enslavement was a necessity.
As the show went on, it seemed like the prerequisite for white comedians was that they needed to be a little bit racist to participate. Take Tony Hinchcliffe. His George Floyd joke (which will not be repeated here) is getting major backlash from viewers. The Gianna and George Floyd Foundation has also condemned the joke, with spokesperson Travis Cains telling TMZ that Hart’s condoning of this material is “sad for the culture.”
There’s nothing funny about letting a white man disrespect George Floyd, comedy roast or not.
Black celebs laughing at George Floyd jokes the same week white racists are openly trying to strip your community of its power and rights is exactly why they think they can keep playing…
— Isaac Hayes III (@IsaacHayes3) May 12, 2026
Isaac Hayes III agreed. “There’s nothing funny about letting a white man disrespect George Floyd, comedy roast or not,” the son of musician and actor Isaac Hayes and founder/CEO of Fanbaseapp wrote on X. “Black celebs laughing at George Floyd jokes the same week white racists are openly trying to strip your community of its power and rights is exactly why they think they can keep playing in our faces.”
A roast filled with race-baited jokes targeting Black attendees and celebrities, drenched in stereotypes instead of witty observations, may be fine when you’re just among your peers. But since this was a televised event for the public, it came across more like shock humor than actual comedy. In a time that is laced with heightened sensitivity, as people are heavily being profiled because of their race, gender and sexual orientation with little consequence, the entire evening felt tone deaf.
The roast has its defenders, even some from within. Even though she was the brunt of an offensive joke about her husband’s suicide, Sheryl Underwood shared on TMZ that, “True roast comedy is not for mainstream domain.”
She saved the damn roast.. brought the energy were it needed to be snd shut the fellas the hell up @sherylunderwood #roastofkevinhart pic.twitter.com/wB8ViD4avx
— Loni Love (@LoniLove) May 11, 2026
Speaking on Dwayne Johnson, who was questioned about his Blackness, she noted that this type of comedy is “a way for us to talk about the issues with humor and come to some common ground. fellow comedians like Loni Love praising how Underwood’s comedic retorts were some of the things that literally saved the night (why does that always seem to fall on the shoulders of a Black woman?).
Kat Williams was also praised for his blend of biting comedy and social commentary. It was more directed at the beef he and Hart have been perceived to have over the years. With jokes like “the Hart roast must have been desperate to fill its comedy slots,” and that he was invited, to “point out that Hart has never spoken out about the Diddy parties he attended, so he must have ‘did something wrong,’” fans felt Williams showed how a roast can be about wit and sharp observation versus race-baiting.
Some say Hart reclaimed his own narrative by stating that his “Mount Rushmore of Racism” when it comes to hating Black people was Hulk Hogan, Shane Gillis, Kid Rock, and Stephen A. Smith.
Traditional roast culture was historically designed to insult everyone equally, with a heaping dose of discomfort and boundary-pushing. But is it time to question humor that drags itself into racism, trauma-based observation, misogyny, and more targeted marginalization?
It seems this roast suffered from what many say is a problem in Hollywood right now, best depicted by fellow comedian Michael Che, who’s been known to push boundaries. He posted his version of who was in the Hart roast writers’ room: a slide featuring several white male comedy writers, as if to say these are the ones hired to pontificate on Black culture.
Che ended the post with the caption: “cmonnnnnnnn..thats not funny?”
Celebrity roasts may survive, but audiences are making it clear they don’t have to laugh or accept them just because someone says, “This is a joke.”