Overview
- Handler spoke on Deon Cole’s podcast Wednesday and said she found Gillis’s lynching joke and Hinchcliffe’s joke about Sheryl Underwood’s late husband to be racist, sexist and beyond the bounds of acceptable roast humor.
- The Roast of Kevin Hart, streamed earlier this month on Netflix, featured several provocative bits that drew groans and online backlash and have already prompted criticism over what material was cut and who wrote the jokes.
- Shane Gillis dismissed Handler’s comments in a statement to outlets, while Sheryl Underwood told Gillis on his podcast that she was not offended by the jokes about her husband.
- Members of George Floyd’s family and other public figures expressed anger at Hinchcliffe’s Floyd reference, underscoring how some remarks touched on real trauma and drew a strong emotional response.
- The dispute has refocused industry questions about the limits of roast comedy, the racial makeup of writers on the special, and whether streaming platforms like Netflix should exercise clearer editorial oversight.