Kevin Hart’s Netflix roast has been making quite a few headlines recently, largely due to the controversial Charlie Kirk joke made by Pete Davidson — which many viewers say crossed a line.
While that one may have made it to air it’s been revealed that other potentially controversial jokes were cut from the show, with one about Melania Trump raising a few eyebrows.
The Roast of Kevin Hart was streamed live by Netflix on Sunday night and has since made the rounds on social media.
It saw comics including Chelsea Handler, Regina Hall, Tony Hinchcliffe and Sheryl Underwood joining in the fun as they ‘roasted’ Hart and each other.
Following the show, writer Madison Sinclair revealed to Variety the line about the First Lady which was absent from proceedings.
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The quip, aimed at Tony Hinchcliffe, was as follows: ‘Tony is like Melania, the only thing relevant about him is that he opened for Trump once.’
It’s one of a number of one-liners which didn’t make the cut, with Variety reporting that gags about #MeToo, Lizzo’s weight and Hart participating in the controversial Riyadh Comedy Festival last year were also snipped from the roast.
While that quip aimed at Hinchcliffe – a known Donald Trump supporter – might not have made the cut, Pete Davidson’s controversial gag did, dividing viewers in the process.
‘Tony Hinchcliffe’s here, looking like both a child molester and the doll they give the child to show where he touched them,’ the Saturday Night Live starsaid. ‘Tony reminds me of Charlie Kirk, in that he’s definitely been on camera letting a guy unload in his throat.’
Kirk, the late right-wing activist and Turning Point USA leader who was a close ally of Trump, was fatally shot during a speech at Utah University campus in September.
The joke was met with shocked reactions. ‘We watched it live and I can tell you – that room went actually silent. Even Tiffany Haddish had her mouth wide open,’ claimed Alyssa Mazziotta in the comments section of influencer @onlypatriotjake on Instagram.
She added: ‘There is no normal person who would actually bring up someone’s assassination and turn it into a joke.’
Others called the joke ‘completely unacceptable’. However some viewers also defended Davidson’s right to free speech, pointing out that nobody was ‘off limits’ in a roast.
While it’s unclear why the Melania joke was axed, the decision not to use it on the show comes in the wake of the controversy around a recent joke on Jimmy Kimmel’s show — which led to both Donald Trump and the First Lady calling for the host to be fired.
The skit, which he performed days before the shooting at the White House Correspondents Dinner, saw him staging a parody version of the event, during which he made a quip intended to mock the age difference between the couple.
‘Our First Lady, Melania, is here. Look at Melania, so beautiful. Mrs Trump, you have a glow like an expectant widow,’ the host said.
He continued: ‘You know, Melania’s birthday is on Sunday. She’s planning to celebrate at home the same way she always does, looking out a window and whispering, “What have I done?”‘
Kimmel later apologised after the the dinner, which saw Cole Tomas Allen, of Torrance, California, accused of storming the Washington event with a pump-action shotgun, a pistol and three knives.
Melania took to X in the wake of the assassination attempt, slamming Kimmel for ‘hateful rhetoric’ which she said was ‘intended to divide our country’.