Tony Hinchcliffe's joke about 'George Floyd' at the Kevin Hart roast was not well received

Kevin Hart/Instagram

A joke about George Floyd's death did not go over well at Kevin Hart’s recent Hollywood roast. George Floyd, 46, was killed by Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin in 2020 when Chauvin knelt on his neck for approximately nine minutes while bystanders recorded the incident.

The internet, along with Floyd’s family, reacted strongly to comedian Tony Hinchcliffe’s punchline, which referred to George Floyd being unable to breathe and allegedly looking up at everyone from the afterlife, implying he was in hell. Tony stated, "The Black community is so proud of you… right now George Floyd is looking up at us all laughing so hard he can't breathe."

Tony Hinchcliffe/Netflix Screenshot

According to TMZ, Travis Cains, a spokesman for The Gianna and George Floyd Foundation, expressed that Kevin’s endorsement of Tony's joke is "sad for the culture." George's brother, Terrence Floyd shared his thoughts with The Breakfast Club expressing that he believed Kevin should have intervened when the joke was made, he said, "It wasn't tasteful." Terrence pointed out that Kevin, along with other celebrities, attended George's funeral. Overall, Terrence emphasized that his main focus is on the well-being of his niece.

George Floyd’s family and friends felt that Kevin should have intervened to prevent Tony from mentioning Floyd in his routine. The family criticized Kevin for referencing George in a previous joke during Tom Brady’s roast.

Floyd’s only daughter has been having many difficulties since her father's death, and there have been reports of her being bullied at school because of it.

George's daughter, Gianna Floyd

Celebrities and social media users voiced their outrage over the joke. Comedian, Lil Rel Howery commented, “It’s one thing to roast the people who may be in the audience. Roasting someone No. 1 that’s dead, No. 2 that’s not there, No. 3 that the implications of why you shouldn’t joke about that … Tony Hinchcliffe’s joke about George Floyd didn’t make f-cking sense to me. There was no reason to bring George Floyd into this. It was just disgusting.”

Eniko and Kevin Hart/Instagram@kevinhart4real

Many Instagram users also condemned Tony, calling his content “A very hard no,” “Bring up a deceased comedian, not someone who was killed by the police,” and “Yeah, nawl. Leave George out of it.”

Meanwhile, Tiffany Haddish defended the joke, asking TMZ if the comedians who were offended were those who didn’t receive an invitation.

Former NBA star Stephen Jackson, who was a childhood friend of George Floyd, expressed his disapproval of a joke made about the situation on social media. He pointed out that people were able to laugh because it hadn’t affected them personally, and that George’s death didn’t impact “their doorstep.”

George Floyd

Jackson has been particularly outspoken about George’s death and the friendship they shared.

Meanwhile, neither Tony nor Kevin has yet responded to the criticism.

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