Overview
- At Netflix’s The Roast of Kevin Hart, comedians Shane Gillis and Tony Hinchcliffe made jokes about the 1990 suicide of the man Underwood publicly calls Michael.
- Underwood answered onstage with roast lines of her own, including a pointed jab at Hinchcliffe.
- Speaking to TMZ after the event, she said she had no issue with the material and added, “Freedom of speech is alive and well at Netflix.”
- Gillis said during the show that he felt terrible about the joke and said he called Underwood beforehand to give her a heads up.
- As clips raced across social media, outlets noted that some reports name her late husband as Michael Sparkman though she uses only his first name, raising questions about sensitivity and naming in suicide coverage.