Kevin Hart Under Fire: The One Joke George Floyd’s Family Says Went Too Far

While some people may still be getting their laughs in thanks to Kevin Hart’s recently released “Celebrity G.O.A.T. Roast” on Netflix, the popular funny man isn’t sparking positive feelings from the family of the late George Floyd. And when we tell you why, you’ll more than understand.

As we previously told you, over the weekend, comedians and close friends of Hart’s came together for an epic roast session targeted towards the “Lift” star. Chief among those folks included Regina Hall, Sheryl Underwood, Draymond Green, Tiffany Haddish, Chelsea Handler, a surprise Katt Williams, and more. But perhaps no comedian is getting more flak than Tony Hinchcliffe for his truly distasteful joke about the late George Floyd (the unarmed man killed by police in Minneapolis in 2020).

If you missed it, then allow us to give you a quick rundown, and then you’ll see why his family and many people online are calling him and Hart over it. When it came time for Hinchcliffe to speak, he thought it’d be funny to express just how proud the Black community was of the “Ride Along” star. But what he said next was something nobody expected.

“You’ve done well though, 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.

Oof. Yikes, indeed, right? We told you it was bad!

And that’s exactly why a spokesperson for or The Gianna and George Floyd Foundation spoke out about Hinchcliffe’s words and Hart’s silence at the off-putting joke. In a statement to TMZ, spokesperson Travis Cains described the joke as “sad for the culture” and expressed shock on behalf of Floyd’s family and friends at Hart allowing him to broach the subject in the first place.

Cains isn’t the only one who feels some type of way about the joke, comedian Lil Rel Howery also spoke out in a video on Tuesday.

“It’s one thing to roast the people that’s there, it’s one thing to roast the people that may be in the audience there…but Tony Hinchcliffe joke about George Floyd didn’t make no f*cking sense to me,” Howery said. “It was no reason to bring George Floyd into this. It just was disgusting.”

Activist Tamika Mallory also spoke out against the joke, saying in part in a post to Instagram: “There is literally NOTHING funny about how George Floyd was m*rdered. Allowing that white man or any other man to stand up there and disrespect US, while laughing, is disgusting. Part of the reason Black folks continue to face SEVERE attacks against our rights, is because some of us think everything is shits and giggles. It wasnt funny AT ALL”

“Tony Hinchcliffe is one of Jeff Dunham’s racist puppets that became sentient,” said another user on X/Twitter.

Added another: “genuinely f*ck everyone who performed and attended this show. ain’t no way you guys would willing want to associate yourself with tony hinchcliffe.”

One other user called out Hart for his passiveness and laughing at the joke, writing: “It’s always wild watching white people find humor in Black pain being murdered by a police officer and begging for air is somehow comedy material. That wasn’t a random accident or harmless joke George Floyd died at the hands of law enforcement while people watched and did nothing. But somehow a white man can turn that into entertainment and everybody around him just laughs and giggle. Kevin sitting there kiking along like a good house slave it is exactly why people keep getting away with this behavior.”