Comedian Lil Rel Howery watched The Roast of Kevin Hart like millions of Americans, but he says one joke in particular crossed the line.
In a video shared to Instagram, Howery explained that he missed the live event and other Netflix Is a Joke festivities because he was away filming a movie. After eventually catching up on the roast, he praised several performers, including Regina Hall, Katt Williams, and Kevin Hart, for doing “their job.”
Still, the comic said a joke from Tony Hinchcliffe about George Floyd left him upset.
“What I am annoyed by, and I’m just keeping it one hundred y’all… I don’t understand, it’s one thing to roast the people that’s there,” Howery said in the clip. “Tony Hinchcliffe’s joke about George Floyd didn’t make f—ing sense to me. It was no reason to bring George Floyd into this. It was just disgusting.”
Lil Rel blasts Tony Hinchcliffe for his "disgusting" George Floyd joke at the Kevin Hart Roast.
— TMZ (@TMZ) May 12, 2026
Credit: Instagram/comedianlilrel pic.twitter.com/wCCUKnCMzZ
Howery also questioned why the audience reacted more strongly to jokes about Draymond Green than Hinchcliffe’s remarks.
“The audience was OK boo’ing Draymond Green every time his name was mentioned,” he said. “But you don’t boo Tony Hinchcliffe right after that?”
The joke also sparked backlash from comedian Loni Love and others online, while Floyd’s family later released a statement calling for “a little bit more positive” discourse.