Wanda Sykes is never one to bite her tongue, and now she’s keeping it real about opting out of the Kevin Hart roast amid its litany of “racist, sexist,” jokes.
Source: Unique Nicole/ Michael Simon
Despite having her own special on the streamer, the comedy legend decidedly passed on the roast even when directly asked by Hart to participate. In hindsight, she credits her intuition and principles with saving her from the fallout of the heavily criticized special.
“Kevin called me before it was announced, and I said, ‘No!,’” Sykes explained during an interview with Vulture‘s Good Ones podcast. “He said, ‘Come on, Wanda. Come on, it’ll be good. It’ll be good for your special. You’ve got a special coming out.’ I was like, ‘Kevin, you know I love you, man.’ He goes, ‘I know. I know it’s not your thing. I know it’s not your thing.’ He’s like, ‘You’ll just come in, do your thing, get out of there.’”
Though she had no idea just how left things would end up, in watching “enough” of the special, Sykes said she was thankful she’d passed on it.
“I consumed enough to go, ‘Thank God,’” she said. “I went to the Sparks game instead.”
Though she took issue with a lot of the things that the general public criticized, from a comedic standpoint Sykes felt the real mishap was that of the writers on the evening.
“Just lazy writing,” she said when asked what she felt made the special a failure. “I felt the same way about the [Tom] Brady roast too. Just, it seems like the roasts are just recycled sexist, racist, gay jokes. Like, come on.”
With her comments, Sykes joins a long line of other comedians who have criticized the special as being one-note and punching down on vulnerable communities, something the comedy world often frowns upon. Hart, however, has remained steadfast in his defense of the special, pointing to its success on the streamer and lauding the comedians who took part. Only time will tell if his views will someday change.
