When comedian Tony Hinchcliffe appeared on Joe Rogan’s podcast recently, the conversation turned to the fallout from his set at the Netflix roast of Kevin Hart, where a George Floyd joke sparked widespread criticism.
Rather than simply defending the joke itself, Hinchcliffe shifted the discussion toward the people criticizing him, specifically questioning which of his detractors had actually performed at Saudi Arabia’s Riyadh Comedy Festival.
Looking back on the controversy, Hinchcliffe admitted he was surprised it continued to generate headlines.
“I’m always surprised by these things,” he said. “I’m always surprised that they last so long that anybody’s talking about it.”
He argued that the Netflix roast was exactly the kind of setting where edgy jokes are expected and said the atmosphere in the room was nothing like the outrage that later unfolded online.
“There’s nobody that was there that was offended. There was no ruckus there,” Hinchcliffe said, referring to the audience’s reaction during the event.
Joe Rogan then brought up another moment from the roast. During her set, Chelsea Handler joked that Hinchcliffe had accepted money to perform in Saudi Arabia, a country that has faced widespread criticism over its human rights record. In comedy circles, performing at the Riyadh festival had become a controversial topic.
According to Hinchcliffe, however, the joke was built on a false premise. He said both he and Shane Gillis had declined offers to perform there.
He stated, “Not only made it up, turned it down. Like didn’t go when offered vast sums of money that the bus boy, bag boy, Tony would never imagine turning down.”
Hinchcliffe then pointed to what he saw as the irony behind the criticism.
“On the contrary,” he said, “the guys that Chelsea was complimenting during that set. Basically, Kevin Hart and Pete Davidson did take the money and went to Saudi Arabia.”
In other words, Hinchcliffe argued that while he was portrayed as the villain during the roast, the comedians being praised in the same segment had actually accepted the Saudi offers.
Hinchcliffe also took issue with how Netflix promoted the roast afterward. He said the platform clipped his reaction during the Saudi Arabia joke and posted it on Instagram in a way that implied he had accepted Saudi money.
“It makes it look like I’m offended or something or guilty of taking Saudi Arabian money,” he said.
The comedian also argued that much of the backlash came from people who were not even present during the roast.
“It was a lot of comedians, a lot of black comedians were like I’m upset about this, they made their videos,” Hinchcliffe said. He added that it was “just hilarious because they’re not on the roast, they’re not in attendance at the roast.”
