Kevin Hart recently shared his thoughts on who he thinks should never be the target of a comedic roast, reflecting on his own experience of being roasted.
The comedian, who was the focal point of the intense three-hour Netflix special, “The Roast of Kevin Hart,” discussed potential candidates for future roasts in a conversation about the show.
During an appearance on “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” on Wednesday night, Hart reacted strongly when certain celebrity names were proposed as potential roast subjects.
Hart threw out LeBron James as a possible choice, citing his significant cultural impact. However, when Kimmel jokingly suggested Oprah Winfrey, Hart was quick to dismiss the idea.
He firmly opposed the idea of roasting Oprah, emphatically stating that he would do everything in his power to prevent it from happening.
“That would be like defacing a masterpiece,” Hart declared. “If Oprah ever expressed interest, I’d be speeding to her place to stop it. No way would I let that happen.”
Kevin Hart said roasting celebrities is a ‘necessary’ act, but the stand-up comedian named one person he believes should never be the subject of a savage roast; pictured in May
While considering whether or not Oprah Winfrey should be roasted, Hart strongly reacted to the idea and said he would try to keep it from happening; pictured in January
During their conversation, Hart had also opened up about whether or not any of the jokes told during the roast actually hurt his feelings.
The actor said none of the jokes hurt him personally, but he admitted that Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson did catch him by surprise.
‘I think uh I think the the the one that caught me off guard [was from] Dwayne,’ Hart explained.
He recalled being stunned by his longtime friend and collaborator putting up a mugshot of his late father on the massive screens all around the venue.
‘Dwayne had the picture of my father, and he had a mug shot of my dad, and he goes, “Look at my dad. Kev, we both love our dads.” And he had a picture of his dad in shape, you know, coming from the gym. He’s like, “Look at my dad. He’s a tank.”
‘And then he goes, “Look at Kevin’s dad.” And it was the worst picture of my father I’ve ever seen. The worst picture of my father,’ Hart said. ‘It caught me off guard, but it was funny.’
During the interview, Hart also shared his honest thoughts about roasting celebrities and called it ‘necessary’ occurrence.
‘It’s an actual talent within the idea of roast that comedians have to have to make this work,’ he said on the late night talk show.
This comes shortly after Hart survived his own roast as part of the Netflix Is a Joke festival last month
During his late night show appearance, Hart insisted none of the jokes hurt his feelings but admitted there was one that ‘caught him off guard’
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Should any celebrities be off-limits from being roasted, or is comedy meant to target everyone?
‘Well, I think the beauty of any roast is the roastee being game for whatever is going to happen,’ Hart said about his roast, which was a part of the Netflix Is a Joke festival.
‘Sometimes they sit in that chair and don’t really understand what comes with that chair,’ he said about people sitting in the hot seat without any warning of what type of jokes are to come.
When you sit in that chair, it’s like, “OK, have at it. Like, go have a good time.” Right?’
This comes shortly after many of the jokes made during The Roast of Kevin Hart generated controversy online and were heavily criticized for being racist, sexist or otherwise offensive.
Tony Hinchcliffe faced backlash for making a joke about George Floyd at one point during the roast.
Hart later defended Hinchcliffe and the joke he made, though he admitted he would not have made the same joke himself.
