Atlanta megachurch pastor Jamal Bryant is the latest voice adding fuel to an already blazing controversy surrounding Netflix’s “Roast of Kevin Hart,” declaring the viral special had crossed a line that comedy alone couldn’t justify.
In a Threads post on Tuesday, May 12, Bryant shared a screenshot from an ongoing online discussion about the roast and fired off a sharp critique.
“The Kevin Hart roast wasn’t comedy it was disrespect dressed as jokes,” he wrote. “In this climate for it to go unchecked is to give consent.” The comment ignited a fresh wave of debate, with some followers questioning why a pastor was engaging with secular content at all, while others argued that having a streaming subscription grants every viewer the right to weigh in.
Bryant’s remarks come days after Netflix aired the roast on May 10 as the closing event of the Netflix Is a Joke comedy festival at the Kia Forum in Inglewood, and the fallout has been swift and far-reaching. Comedian Tony Hinchcliffe drew particular backlash for a joke referencing the death of George Floyd, while host Shane Gillis made jokes about Sheryl Underwood’s late husband’s suicide and delivered height jokes referencing slavery and lynching — the latter of which he admitted required “three weeks of deliberation.
Activist Tamika Mallory responded forcefully on Instagram, writing that there was “literally NOTHING funny” about how George Floyd was murdered and that allowing the moment to go unchallenged was “disgusting.” Floyd’s family also weighed in, with foundation spokesman Travis Cains calling Hart’s condoning of the joke “sad for the culture,” and noting that Floyd’s daughter Gianna, now 12, has faced bullying in school due to ongoing jokes about her father’s death.
SNL veteran Michael Che also distanced himself from the special, having dropped out ahead of the taping, and later trolled the roast’s writing staff on social media.
Not everyone condemned the night. Sheryl Underwood later defended the format, telling TMZ, “Freedom of speech is alive and well at Netflix,” and made clear she was not personally offended. Hart himself responded to critics on Instagram, saying “that, my friend, is what the f*ck a roast is supposed to be — hard-hitting, relentless jokes.
the roast was the worst I’ve ever seen in my life if this is comedy ????????????????????
Hart himself responded to critics on Instagram, saying “that, my friend, is what the f*ck a roast is supposed to be — hard-hitting, relentless jokes. YES, THE JOKES SHOULD HAVE BEEN ABOUT YOU AND NOT OTHERS. VERY BAD
think the deeper issue isn’t whether people laughed or didn’t laugh. A roast, by definition, is supposed to push boundaries. Kevin Hart is right about that part.
But I also think there’s a difference between sharp comedy directed at the person being roasted… and casually pulling real trauma, suicide, slavery, lynching, or somebody else’s pain into the room just because shock value gets a reaction.
At some point we have to ask ourselves what kind of climate we are creating when everything becomes material and nothing is treated as sacred anymore.
And before somebody says, “People are too sensitive now,” sensitivity isn’t always weakness. Sometimes it’s discernment. Sometimes it’s the ability to recognize when entertainment starts feeding something darker in us.
The challenge is that outrage culture and shock culture now feed each other. One side keeps pushing boundaries for bigger reactions, while the other side reacts so strongly that the controversy itself becomes promotion.
Personally, I’m not interested in policing comedians. I’m more interested in what we as a culture are becoming comfortable laughing at — and why.
If thats funny slavery and Geoge Floyd how about some Ann Frank and Jews going to the oven to
burn marshmallows.. All hell will break out…