NFL analyst declares Aaron Hernandez jokes were the wrong side of the line
Heading into the roast of Aaron Hernandez's quarterback Tom Brady in The Roast of Tom Brady on Sunday, fans braced for jokes, callouts and teeteringly heated punchlines regarding the quarterback's storied NFL history.
While some topics touched the predictable Deflategate and Spygate topics, the program veered more controversial than most had suspected, touching on the Aaron Hernandez topic multiple times. Speaking on "Pro Football Talk" on Monday, analyst Mike Florio declared jokes about the late tight end to be too far.
Mike Florio: [00:04:45] "A little over the top. ... But it's one thing to roast the people who are eventually going to get up and have a chance to give it back to you, the guy who's dead and the guy who made people dead. It felt like that was a bridge too far."
For every five jokes about the quarterback, there was seemingly one for Rob Gronkowski. Julian Edelman made some, and comedian Nikki Glaser made others. For every five jokes about Gronkowski, there were seemingly two for Aaron Hernandez. Florio continued, claiming that "people" texted him to complain about the roast:
"I know that that is the one thing that people are texting me saying wherever the line is at a roast nowadays, because who the hell knows, that probably was the other side of it. [00:06:14]" [89.1] PFT
He wasn't clear in saying if it was people connected to the New England Patriots, the league at large or others, but many fans were shocked at how flippantly the roasters talked about the tight end.
Aaron Hernandez and OJ Simpson take shots at Tom Brady roast
Aaron Hernandez wasn't the only deceased one-time murder suspect to be on the receiving end of jokes. On Sunday, comedian Jeff Ross made multiple references to the newly passed OJ Simpson. His arrival on stage was his first punchline.
Ross emerged wearing a Simpson jersey styled to look like it was bloodstained. He also wore what was an attempt to duplicate the infamous gloves from the trial. The joke was the first such dip into the controversy-laden show.
Over the course of the evening, comics attempted to work both Simpson and Hernandez into the punchline of their jokes. At one point, a comic made a pun with the word "hang" in perhaps the most potentially offensive joke of the night.
If any of the above quotes are used, credit "Pro Football Talk" and H/T Sportskeeda.