Netflix is facing furious backlash to its Roast of Kevin Hart special.
MAGA favorite Tony Hinchcliffe, who was brutally roasted by Chelsea Handler for using “Crest White Supremacist Strips” on his whitened teeth, made a “racist and cruel joke” about the public murder of Minnesota man George Floyd during the show—and now thousands are demanding that the streaming service donate its proceeds to Floyd’s family.
During the roast, which took place in Los Angeles on May 10, Hinchcliffe, 41, told Hart, “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.”
White police officer Derek Chauvin was captured on video kneeling on Floyd’s neck on May 25, 2020, until Floyd was heard saying, “I can’t breathe.” The words became a rally cry for protests throughout the country.
Nearing the sixth anniversary of his death, which spurred the largest wave of civil rights protests in U.S. history, over 10,000 people have signed a petition demanding that Netflix and Hart, 46, donate proceeds from the event to the Floyd Family Center for Social Equity, a nonprofit established by Floyd’s family after his death.
“To hack comedian Tony Hinchcliffe, George’s murder is a joke. Literally,” reads the MoveOn Civic Action petition.
“We’re not laughing. And we demand more than an apology. We demand reparations.”
According to a press release, the petition garnered over 8,000 signatures in less than 24 hours.
“Hinchcliffe and the team of primarily white writers for The Roast of Kevin Hart decided to make a disgusting and shameful joke about George’s murder,” the statement reads. “A joke that his daughter, family, and loved ones—still grieving every day—have to reckon with. And it’s not the first joke about George Floyd’s murder Hinchcliffe has made: He made another joke about him during the Tom Brady roast a few years ago.”
“Netflix and Hart knew exactly what they were doing when they platformed Hinchcliffe. And now they have to answer to us, the public.”
The Daily Beast has reached out to Netflix and representatives for Hart and Hinchcliffe for comment.
Floyd’s brother further condemned the joke in an interview, calling it “totally disrespectful.”
Handler, 51, appeared on Deon Cole’s Funny Knowing You Podcast to reflect on the event, where she eviscerated both Hincliffe and the event’s host, Shane Gillis, as “racist,” “sexist,” and “bigots.”
Handler made headlines herself for tearing Hinchcliffe and Gillis to shreds during the show, calling each out for their history.
Hinchcliffe, who made a name for himself for performing at Donald Trump’s 2024 Madison Square Garden rally to “swing a few thousand votes,” joked from the stage that Puerto Rico was a “floating island of garbage,” which drew criticism even from within MAGA.
Gillis was fired from Saturday Night Live in 2019 after he used slurs against Asians on his podcast. He joked about lynching at the roast, pointing out Hart’s height and saying he’s so short that “They’re gonna have to lynch him from a bonsai tree.”
The roast, which was streamed live, attracted millions of viewers and continues to lead streaming numbers days later.
“I mean, it was ick,” Handler said. “It was gross. I don’t find those jokes to be funny. Jokes about lynching black people…lynching is not a joke.”
Comedian Sheryl Underwood, who also attended the event, called out Gillis and Hinchcliffe, too, telling Entertainment Tonight, “I think people should be upset, like the George Floyd jokes, the bonsai tree jokes, things like that.”
“I told Tony Hinchcliffe personally, ‘You gotta deal with the Floyd family—and they got hands,’” she added. “You’re talking about someone’s relative.”
The petition also states that the event makes “Black pain and trauma a punchline for white comedians, packaged and sold by corporations like Netflix, and normalized by wealthy Hollywood stars like Hart.”
