CBC Arts50%
Did Kevin Hart and Katt Williams actually squash their beef? 35%
By Amelia Eqbal0%
5/14/2026, 8:12:41 PM
Topics: Comedy, Celebrity Feuds
BS Summary: This article contains 28 faulty reasoning types, including Unattributed Quote, Fundamental Attribution Error, and Negativity Bias, with Hasty Generalization as the most egregious example at 29.6% saturation with 260 hits. Analysis detected 1,588 faulty-reasoning hits from 877 analyzed words, generating a BS Score of 42.3% and a BS Rank of 35% (11,005 of 16,813 articles). This article is better (less manipulative) than 65.50% of the article peer group.
Once a small-scale, private event for comedians to show respect to each other, the celebrity roast has now become a massive platform for comics to earn mainstream attention.
Recently, Netflix livestreamed The Roast of Kevin Hart from the Kia Forum in Los Angeles as part of Netflix is a Joke Fest.
Hosted by Shane Gillis, the evening featured appearances from celebrities like Chelsea Handler, Dwayne Johnson and Lizzo.
But perhaps the most surprising guest of the night was comedian Katt Williams, who has been in a feud with Hart for years.
Today on Commotion, comedian Ashley Ray and media personality Matt Hart (no relation to Kevin) join host Elamin Abdelmahmoud to discuss the all-star roast of Kevin Hart, whether he truly squashed his beef with Williams, and what the event says about the current state of the comedy world.
We've included some highlights below, edited for length and clarity.
For the full discussion, listen and follow Commotion with Elamin Abdelmahmoud on your favourite podcast player.
Elamin: “I said, ‘I hate him.’
They said, ‘Come anyway.’”
Absolutely unbelievable.
That's Katt Williams on stage roasting Kevin Hart.
And you can tell that that's not a joke….
There's a history there of, these people don't get along.
Ashley, do you want to just explain, for those folks who are not familiar with that history, just what that history is?
Ashley: Oh, Katt Williams, my king of comedy.
Within Black comedy, there has been a long standing beef between Katt Williams and Kevin Hart.
Katt Williams has been around longer.
He was known as the original high-energy short Black guy who, like, overacted on stage and made big faces.
That was his thing.
And then Kevin Hart came around, and the comparisons were immediate, you know?
They were both short, both high-energy — which, that was really it, ’cause Katt is actually funny.
Kevin, I think, was a bit like, “OK, maybe I can't beat him in stand-up, but I can say yes to every role that Katt will say no to, because I don't care about being in bad movies.”
So, Kevin went that route and got very famous.
And Katt kind of went another way where he was this very famous, known comic, but wasn't mainstream famous, and was getting in legal issues and stuff.
And now Katt, I think, is back kind of at the top of his game, and came back to say, “Let's look at how this worked out for you, Kevin.
Maybe you have a lot of money, but we know you're empty on the inside.
And also, I mean every word.”
Elamin: There's a degree to which you listen to Katt Williams and go, like, “Oh, he means this stuff.”
Like, it really comes from the bottom of his heart.
And also, he's happy and thrilled to have the moment and the platform to actually say it….
Matt, were you surprised to see Katt Williams?
Matt: Yeah, I was, because I know that there's a bit of history there.
I'm not as well-versed in it, but I thought it was one of those things where, you know, in hip-hop, if there's two white rappers, they always beef with each other because there can only be one.
I feel like that's the two of them with short comedians, or something like that.
So it was great to see him there.
And I mean, I'm just happy to see the beef get squashed.
It makes great TV, these beefs, but if it's counterproductive to both of them, then you've got to squash it.
Elamin: Ashley, I don't look at this [roast] and go, “Those people have squashed it, and they will never sort of be beefing ever again.”
But what was your reaction to that resolution there?
Ashley: I felt like I could feel Katt Williams rolling his eyes in his mind….
And I think he just very quickly was like, “You know what, I'm going to shake your hand, but I have not been paid to be here any more than I was.”
And he just walks off the stage.
He doesn't even acknowledge what Kevin is saying.
So, to me, it wasn't really a, “Let's squash the beef.”
And that was kind of Kevin's way of trying to save face and go, “Yeah, I know he meant all that stuff, but, like, I'm cool with it.
I know you're all here to joke about me.”
And also in a roast, typically they end with people … going, “We do it ’cause we love, and at the end of the day, Kevin, thank you.”
And Katt didn't even do that at the end of his.
It was just mean, mean, mean, OK, I'm out.
Elamin: It was like, “I have mean things to say, that I've been paid to say, and now I'm leaving.”
I completely agree with you.
I don't get the sense of, these guys are going to call each other on Tuesday.
Like, I don't think that's how that resolves.
You can listen to the full discussion from today's show on CBC Listen or on our podcast, Commotion with Elamin Abdelmahmoud, available wherever you get your podcasts.
Panel produced by Stuart Berman.
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