Pastor Jamal Bryant took to social media this week to criticize “The Roast of Kevin Hart,” calling the event “disrespect dressed as jokes.”
“The Roast of Kevin Hart” aired on Netflix on May 10 with a runtime of nearly three hours. During the program, comedians and celebrities took turns making jokes at one another’s expense, with Hart as the centerpiece.
Hart, an award-winning actor and comedian, is the second subject of a Netflix roast, following NFL legend Tom Brady, who was roasted in 2024.
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Prior to Netflix taking the mantle of celebrity roasts, Comedy Central had produced similar specials for two decades. However, the runtime of those specials was typically 90 minutes, and while the specials always contained mature humor, they were subject to Federal Communications Commission (FCC) content regulations for cable television.
As a streaming platform, Netflix does not operate under the same content restrictions, a reality that has been reflected in the jokes that have been included in roast specials.
Some of the more provocative jokes during Kevin Hart’s roast centered on comedian and actress Sheryl Underwood’s late husband, who died by suicide, the deaths of George Floyd and Charlie Kirk, and Jeffrey Epstein. Many of the jokes contained themes that were violent, racially charged, and sexually aggressive.
Viewership numbers for the special have not yet been publicly disclosed, but “The Roast of Kevin Hart” is expected to exceed the 26 million views received by “The Roast of Tom Brady.”
“The Roast of Tom Brady” was nominated for an Emmy, and it won the Director’s Guild of America (DGA) award for outstanding directorial achievement in variety/talk/news/sports.
Bryant, who pastors New Birth Missionary Baptist Church in the Atlanta area, is known for his social activism, including his promotion of a faith-based “Target Fast,” a boycott of the superstore that came after executives of the company terminated DEI initiatives.
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In a post on Threads earlier this week, Bryant expressed his displeasure with “The Roast of Kevin Hart.”
