Kevin Hart calls NBC News 'disrespectful' for using his photo in story about Usain Bolt
‘I must of gotten really fast and tall overnight,’ says comedian
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Your support makes all the difference.Kevin Hart has called NBC News “disrespectful” after it appeared to confuse him with Olympic gold medallist Usain Bolt.
On Tuesday, a photo of the comedian appeared alongside a news story that was shared on Facebook by the outlet, titled: “Usain Bolt, the fastest man alive, tests positive for coronavirus”.
While NBC News has since blamed a “technical error” in the content management system, Hart criticised the outlet and shared a screenshot of its original post on his Instagram account.
Alongside a series of face-palm emoji’s, he wrote: “No comment.
“I must of gotten really fast & tall overnight,” Hart quipped, joking that he plans to “take advantage of this moment & race anybody in the world.”
He also quipped that he is “no longer doing comedy due to my Olympic training schedule.”
Hart followed up with a more serious comment, adding: “P.S this is Disrespectful on so many levels.”
The Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle star continued: “All you can do is laugh. Maybe the Covid 19 shrunk his legs & torso.”
NBC News was also trolled on social media for the mistake.
“Today I learned that Covid 19 turns you into Kevin Hart. Either that or @NBCNews needs to hire someone who can tell black people apart,” one person wrote on Twitter.
Another added: “So which one of yalls non-black employees thought Kevin Hart was a whole ass 6’5 sprinter from Jamaica [sic].”
A third person commented: “There’s no way NBC actually used a Kevin Hart pic for Usain Bolt getting Covid ... Lmao.”
NBC News later addressed the mistake on Facebook blaming it on a “technical error”.
“Correction: Due to a technical error, the social image on this post mistakenly featured a photo of comedian Kevin Hart,” it wrote. ”In the content management system, a social image was not selected, and the system reverted to an image of Hart from an unrelated video. The display image has been corrected.”
This week, Hart revealed during a standup set that he tested positive for the coronavirus earlier this year, but didn’t come forward with the news for a specific reason.
“The problem is that I had it around the same time as Tom Hanks, and I couldn’t say anything because he’s more famous than I am,” Hart joked.
On Monday, Bolt announced that he has been self-quarantined at home as a precautionary measure after being tested for the virus.
“I’m trying to be responsible, so I’m going to stay in and stay away from my friends,” he said in a video posted to Instagram and Twitter.
“I’m having no symptoms (but) am going to quarantine myself.”
Shortly after, Jamaica’s health ministry confirmed that Bolt had indeed tested positive. “It is now public knowledge that Mr Bolt has been tested positive. He has been formally notified, I’m told, by the authorities,” the minister of health and wellness said in a press conference.
The Independent has contacted NBC News for comment.
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