The Roast of Kevin Hart Was a Bizarre Hollywood Humiliation Ritual

Numerous critics complained that The Roast of Kevin Hart was too scripted, bloated, and filled with uncomfortable moments. All of those things are true, but the real uneasiness stems from something deeper: the gut feeling that many “jokes” are rooted in dark truths.

The awkward feeling only got worse when numerous “roasters” openly admitted that they were reading a script and they were doing so only for the paycheck.

In other words, The Roast of Kevin Hart was less about comedy and more about the show-business elite ritualistically humiliating a candidate looking to reach higher ranks in the industry.

There is nothing new about this. The roasting of celebrities originated in the 1950s as an annual tradition of the Friars Club, a private fraternity for entertainers, comedians, and show business figures. The club had an “elite secret society” feel, as it recruited the most prominent people in the industry and gave them ranks (inspired by monasteries), not unlike degrees in Freemasonry. For instance, in 2006, Larry King was the dean, Freddie Roman was the Dean Emeritus, and Jerry Lewis was the Abbot.

At the turn of the century, the Friars Club disappeared to be replaced by a much darker and more secretive “brotherhood.” However, Comedy Central has kept the roast tradition going since 1998. While these TV specials are supposed to be edgy and extra raunchy, recent editions have an extra layer of strangeness and uncomfortable moments that go beyond mere jokes. They’ve become humiliation rituals that some celebrities have to undergo to remain in the industry’s good graces. This was especially apparent on The Roast of Kevin Hart, as the goal was less about delivering good comedy and more about emasculating him, highlighting his association with industry pedos and implying that he’s secretly homosexual.

It is almost as if they need to “air out” and normalize whatever weirdness they’re involved in before they can advance to the next stage of the industry. Here’s a look at this bizarre event.

Industry Confessions

While Kevin Hart is the star of the show, many jokes were about the entertainment industry as a whole. And, sometimes, there was no joke at all. Just a damning fact that they apparently needed to put out there. For instance, while presenting Chelsey Handler, roastmaster Shane Gillis said:

“Chelsey Handler went to a dinner at Jeffrey Epstein’s house in 2010. You can look it up, there’s articles. It wasn’t like a big party, there was like seven people there. And it was like Prince Andrew and Woody Allen were there.”

None of this was a joke; it is all true. After that damning tidbit of information about her spending quality time with rich pedophiles, Chelsey gets on the podium, and people laugh at her jokes. And she calls other people in the crowd pedos. It is all extremely uncomfortable, as it becomes obvious they don’t really care about pedophilia at all. It is part of their “culture”.

Later, Gillis stated that Pete Davidson showed up at the Kids’ Choice Awards high on Ketamine, but at least he did not show up to that event on Viagra like “many people in this room did”. He adds:

“There’s a lot of pedophiles here.”

After a while, we get a nauseating sense that those jokes are about normalizing and implicitly accepting the sickness that is plaguing Hollywood.

Beyond industry confessions, the goal of this roast is to ritualistically humiliate Kevin Hart. And that was an ordeal to watch.

The Humiliation of Kevin Hart

The show’s first roaster was Usher. And the entire thing was weird, for so many reasons.

Considering the bizarre history between Kevin Hart, Usher, and that damn Diddy (which we’ll hear about throughout the show), the singer’s presence was a very odd choice.

The strange gay/rape allusions continue with Tom Brady saying that Hart was going to get his “teeny tiny little ass reamed tonight” and that “he cannot wait to watch it.” Brady’s not a professional athlete anymore; he’s a Hollywood weirdo.

Then, Kevin’s arch-nemesis Katt Williams takes the stage. And the”jokes” that might very well be serious facts continue.

Over 20 years ago, Dave Chappelle stated that most of his fellow black comedians wore dresses at some point in their careers as part of a Hollywood rite of passage. In 2024, Katt Williams made a point of highlighting that Kevin Hart did wear the proverbial dress.

Katt also made sure to highlight a fact about Hart:

“But I want to be clear, just because Kevin went to Diddy parties does not mean he did something wrong. The fact that he gets all quiet when you bring it up, that means he did something wrong.”

It’s a joke, but it is also not a joke.

Katt also added that the bromance between Kevin Hart and The Rock is actually “two actors f*cking the sh*t out of each other.” And, a bit later, The Rock himself showed up to bring the humiliation ritual to its bizarre climax.

After emasculating Kevin Hart repeatedly by claiming he’s going to nail his wife (who was in the audience), The Rock’s set was less about jokes and more about Hollywood weirdness that usually happens behind closed doors.

This request turns into some kind of submission test, as people encourage him to do it. Meanwhile, Shane Gillis tells Kevin not to do it because it would prove Katt Williams right.

There was no comedic value to this scene, but it was the logical ending to a roast that is the comedy equivalent of a humiliation ritual.

As in tradition, Kevin Hart got to close up the show with his own monologue. It was symbolic in its own way.

Kevin ends the show with words that barely make sense, but that carry a deeper meaning.

“I’m him, and he is me, and together we make we.”

The use of the word “HIM,” combined with the GOAT imagery throughout the show, is common in the entertainment industry. In satanic circles, HIM is used to refer to Satan, where HIM is an acronym for “His Infernal Majesty.”

Also, HIM is the title of a recent movie that could not be more relevant to the Kevin Hart roast.

The tagline of that movie is “Greatness demands sacrifice.” Kevin Hart’s roast was exactly that.

In Conclusion

While celebrity roasts are known for being edgy, raunchy, and all-around savage, recent ones are less about comedy and more about revealing, exposing, and normalizing the dark side of the entertainment industry. They’re about turning the rampant evil in the industry into a joke so often repeated that it becomes implicitly accepted. And almost rewarded.

In his roast, Kevin Hart was emasculated, called a whore, and asked to provide sexual favors. Yes, those are all jokes. But like the “jokes” about the pedophiles in the crowd and Chelsey Handler attending an Epstein dinner, they’re based on what happens behind closed doors.

Secret societies perform rituals where new candidates are hazed and humiliated before they can ascend higher within their ranks. The roast of Kevin Hart was about the same thing. And all the pedos in the crowd loved it. Except for when they were called pedos.

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