Comedian Kevin Hart told The Breakfast Club on Tuesday that he totally gets why controversial comic Tony Hinchcliffe told a questionable George Floyd joke during the live Roast of Kevin Hart on Netflix that has since received major backlash.

Hinchcliffe, of Kill Tony podcast fame, said during his set, “The Black community is so proud of you right now. George Floyd is looking up at us all, laughing so hard he can’t breathe.”

Floyd was a Black man who was killed by white police officers in Minneapolis who knelt on his back and neck until he suffocated. Floyd’s last words were, “I can’t breathe.”

“Yeah, the George Floyd joke, it wasn’t a tasteful joke to our culture, to our audience,” Hart said. “But our audience that’s watching the roast — if you’re watching the roast, you get why they’re doing it. You get why the racial humor is on the table. It’s not — I wasn’t shocked! Like, that’s what they do. Go look at the Tom Brady one. That’s what they do. It happens every year when they do a roast. It’s not new. It’s not new, it’s not a new agenda, it’s not a new approach to comedy.”

Host Charlamagne Tha God asked, “Do you feel like Tony Hinchcliffe went too far when he made that joke about George Floyd?”

“It’s Tony Hinchcliffe!” Hart said. “Like, I don’t expect less, I don’t expect more.”

“I feel like you’re saying, ‘Going too far is the point,'” Charlamagne said. “I don’t want to put words in your mouth.”

“Yes! I mean, that’s why you’re there. And I hate to say this, but I’m going to because we’re being honest — people are talking about that joke. Talk about his set! Tony Hinchcliffe arguably had the best set, or one of the best sets,” Hart said.

“I was laughing out loud at Tony until the joke. But not even just that joke. I don’t like when people joke about violent, tragic death,” Charlamagne said.

“Would I tell those jokes? No,” said Hart. “But do I get why they’re being told? Yes!”

Travis Cains, a spokesperson for the Gianna and George Floyd Foundation, called Hinchcliffe a “racist comedian,” and criticized Hart for laughing at the joke.

“We are trying to rebuild things for our community and make things better in our community,” Cains said in a statement. “Let’s try to be a little bit more positive.”

Watch the clip above via The Breakfast Club on Youtube.

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