Kevin Hart Says Bill Maher Isn’t Racist, Just ‘Tacky’

“It’s not right to say that,” says comedian

Kevin Hart
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Kevin Hart criticized Bill Maher for his use of the N-word, telling the hosts of “The Breakfast Club” radio show that the use of the slur was “tacky.”

“It’s not right to say that and say it the way you said it as comfortable as you said it in a joking form,” he said. “You’re wrong. Granted, you can issue all the apologies you want, but for you to say it on your platform? That’s tacky. That’s tacky.”

He did add that it would be wrong to classify Maher as a racist because of the joke. “I’ve seen Bill Maher come to the defense of black people on several occasions — that’s a bad judgment — granted, I don’t think Bill Maher‘s a racist,” he said.

“The times are different now and as a comedian you have to understand and respect that,” he said in an interview with Whoopi Goldberg on an episode of “The View” premiering Wednesday. Comedians need to be careful with negative jokes in the age of social media, he said. “Viral equals virus, to a certain degree.”

“I think you have to use better judgement,” he said. “There’s things as a comedian I know I can’t say because of my platform… When you look at Kathy Griffin and Bill Maher and what they’ve done, you’re just looking at comics being comics and we always have to take risks, but sometimes it can be distasteful.”

Of Maher specifically, he said again, “I don’t think Bill Maher‘s a racist but you have to know the consequences of using the word and you know how many people view in to your show. It was stupid.”

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