Kevin Hart has named Oprah Winfrey as the one celebrity who should never be the subject of a brutal comedy roast, likening the idea to 'spray painting the Sistine Chapel'. The comedian made the remarks during an appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live, following his own roasting on Netflix last month.
When host Jimmy Kimmel suggested Oprah as a potential future roastee, Hart was left speechless, shaking his head as the audience laughed. 'If I found out that Oprah said she wanted to do it, I’m driving 100 miles per hour to Oprah’s house,' Hart said, adding that he would tell her: 'You cannot do this. No shot.'
Hart, 46, reflected on his own experience being roasted during the Netflix Is a Joke Festival, where he faced barbs from Chelsea Handler, Pete Davidson and Katt Williams, as well as surprise appearances from Dwayne Johnson and Tom Brady. He admitted to Kimmel that several jokes 'hurt,' particularly one from Johnson involving a mug shot of Hart's late father, Henry Robert Witherspoon.
'Dwayne had the picture of my father and he had a mug shot of my dad and he goes, ‘Look at my dad. Kev, we both love our dads,’' Hart recalled. He noted that Johnson showed a picture of his own father, wrestler Rocky Johnson, looking fit, while the image of Witherspoon was 'the worst picture of my father I’ve ever seen.' Despite being caught off guard, Hart said the joke was funny.
Hart stressed that he gives jokes the benefit of the doubt when made with the intent to amuse. 'All the stuff said about me, you know, I’m like, look, it is what it is. They’re jokes at the end of the day,' he said. He added that any future roastee would need to be 'brave enough' and a 'real big name.'
