Kevin Hart knew he was going to take some big hits during Sunday night’s (May 10) Netflix The Roast of Kevin Hart. The Kia Forum capper to the final night of this year’s Netflix is a Joke festival was hosted by comedian Shane Gillis and featured comedic tranquilizer darts from the likes of Pete Davidson, Chelsea Handler, Jeff Ross, Big Jay Oakerson, Regina Hall, NFL great Tom Brady, Lizzo and The Rock.
It’s always expected that your fellow joke-tellers will light you up, but when Hart caught an unexpected barrage from his pal Usher, that one really stung. Dressed in a double-breasted white jacket over a brown shirt and slacks, Usher opened the show by flipping the lyrics to his 2004 Confessions classic “Burn” to scorch the victim of the hour (three hours, actually).
As Usher began singing, a confused Hart asked, “the f–k are you doing?” Undeterred, Ush unleashed his hail of falsetto word bombs on KH, singing, “Tell me why I should stay in this fake friendship/ ‘Cause we ain’t laughin’, Kevin/ It keeps happenin’, Kevin/ Plus, you’re probably somewhere filming some bulls–t/ I think that you should/ Watching Kevin ain’t the same for nobody/ When they go to commercial/ Had to do a roast, ’cause them jokes ain’t/ Crackin’ like they used to/ Look at what money does to you.”
With an equally star-studded audience looking on — including MGK, Jennifer Lopez, Tiffany Haddish, Jay Pharoah, Hasan Minaj, Bert Kreisher, John Stamos and others — Davidson engaged in the time-honored roast tradition of launching (not-so) friendly fire at some of the other roasters on the dais, honing his joke cannons on controversial comedian Tony Hinchcliffe, with rapper Ye catching a stray as well.
“Tony reminds me of Charlie Kirk, in that’s he’s definitely been on camera letting a guy unload in his throat,” Davidson said of late Turning Point leader Kirk, who was killed in September during a rally in Utah. “Oh you don’t know me? yeah Kill Tony. Please someone f–king ‘Kill Tony.’ Tony nothing you say tonight will hurt my feelings. I was in a beef with Kanye so I’ve taken shots from better gay Nazis.”
It wasn’t all good-hearted ego destruction, though. Oscar nominee Teyana Taylor and Venus and Serena Williams got up to read a heartfelt letter of appreciation for Hart, which made way for one of the evening’s shock closers: Katt Williams. “I’m surprised they invited. That’s how little star power you have, they had to start inviting your enemies,” Williams cracked of his famous comedy rival before unleashing the expected barrage of finely tuned insults.
Williams also roped imprisoned hip-hop mogul Sean “Diddy” Combs into his net, ribbing Hart, “Just because Kevin went to Diddy parties does not mean he did something wrong,” of the disgraced rapper’s reportedly hedonistic sex soirees. “The fact he gets all quiet when you bring it up, that means he did something wrong!”
Watch Usher roast Hart below.
