Kevin Hart gave Oprah Winfrey the names of celebrities he believes should never be abused.
The comedian drew a firm line against making fun of the iconic talk show host during an appearance on “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” while discussing future candidates for Netflix’s popular roast feature. Wednesday.
Hart first recommended LeBron James, citing the basketball superstar’s cultural relevance. However, when Kimmel proposed to Oprah, Hart quickly shot down the idea.
“What about Oprah? Wouldn’t that be acceptable?” Kimmel asked.
“It’s like spray painting the Sistine Chapel,” Hart replied. “If I knew Oprah wanted to do it, I’d drive 100 miles an hour to Oprah’s house. I can’t do that. No shots.”
Hart’s comments come less than a month after he survived a three-hour roast of himself as part of the “Netflix Joke Festival.”
The “Ride Along” star was the butt of jokes from comedians and celebrity friends, including Chelsea Handler, Pete Davidson and Katt Williams.
Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson and Tom Brady also made surprise appearances during the special.
Asked if Kimmel was actually hurt by the joke, Hart said she was the only person who was able to catch Johnson off guard when he showed her a photo of his two fathers as part of the joke.
“Dwayne had a picture of my dad, and he had a mug shot of my dad, and he said, ‘Look at my dad. Kev, we both love our dad,'” Hart said.
Johnson then showed a photo of his father, the late wrestler Rocky Johnson, looking like he had just come out of the gym.
“He had a picture of his dad in shape from the gym,” Hart said.
By comparison, the image chosen for Hart’s late father, Henry Robert Witherspoon, left room for improvement.
“He said, ‘Look at Kevin’s dad.’ And that was the worst picture of my dad I’ve ever seen,” Hart joked.
Hart recently defended Chelsea Handler’s roast of Tony Hinchcliffe after she called it “racist.”
During the Netflix special, Hinchcliffe, who is white, joked to Hart, referring to George Floyd: “The black community is so proud of you. Right now, George Floyd is looking up at all of us and laughing until he can’t breathe.”
The comment sparked a backlash online, but Hart pushed back in an interview on “The Breakfast Club.”
“The George Floyd joke was not a joke in good taste for our culture or our audience, but for the audience watching the roast, watching the roast, you understand why they’re doing it,” he said. “I see why racial humor is a hot topic. I wasn’t shocked. That’s what they do.”
