Kevin Hart joked about gender roles in parenting on 'SNL' and it didn't go so well
Kevin Hart is a funny man, but his opening monologue on Saturday Night Live this week felt like it came a few years too late.
Hart, who just had his third child, used his 6-minute opening monologue to fire off joke after joke about parenthood. It was all going fine, too, until the comedian veered into gender roles. Women, he said, are not fun, whereas fathers shoulder "all of the fun responsibility."
It could have been a lot worse. Hart made the mistake of painting what may be his own personal experiences as a parent with too broad a brush. It's not that he was openly offensive; more that the bit just felt tone-deaf, especially given the current movement to unravel the systemic gender imbalance in our culture.
You May Also Like
In other words: Hart's take on parenthood felt dated. This bit would have killed in the 1990s, maybe even the early Aughts; but if you're going build jokes on top of gender stereotypes in 2017, you're going to take some heat for it.
And that's exactly what happened. Cue the internet.
CARD ID: 304615
CARD ID: 304616
CARD ID: 304617
CARD ID: 304619
CARD ID: 304618
Hart had his defenders, too. As many pointed out, the monologue was "just comedy" and the outraged portion of the audience would do well to "lighten up."
Then again, Hart is also an admitted adulterer. Context matters, and many felt that his tone-deaf gender humor was an especially bad look given the personal history.
Where the line falls between funny and offensive is a call every comedian needs to make for herself or himself. Similarly, whether or not you think Hart chose poorly, that's also a choice for every viewer to make on their own.
Personally, I think Hart's take on parenthood felt antiquated and out of sync with the complex family structures that are increasingly prevalent in modern life. I also think he probably could have chosen his targets better, given his September apology.
At the same time, are tired jokes like these even worth getting offended over? I'm not so sure. But if you have a platform like Hart does and you say something a portion of people don't like, you can sure as hell bet that you're going to hear about it in this age of social media.
CARD ID: 304620
Topics SNL Celebrities
Adam Rosenberg is a Senior Games Reporter for Mashable, where he plays all the games. Every single one. From AAA blockbusters to indie darlings to mobile favorites and browser-based oddities, he consumes as much as he can, whenever he can.Adam brings more than a decade of experience working in the space to the Mashable Games team. He previously headed up all games coverage at Digital Trends, and prior to that was a long-time, full-time freelancer, writing for a diverse lineup of outlets that includes Rolling Stone, MTV, G4, Joystiq, IGN, Official Xbox Magazine, EGM, 1UP, UGO and others.Born and raised in the beautiful suburbs of New York, Adam has spent his life in and around the city. He's a New York University graduate with a double major in Journalism and Cinema Studios. He's also a certified audio engineer. Currently, Adam resides in Crown Heights with his dog and his partner's two cats. He's a lover of fine food, adorable animals, video games, all things geeky and shiny gadgets.
