Katt Williams is criticizing Cedric the Entertainer for supposedly appropriating one of his top jokes.
During Shannon Sharpe’s Club Shay Shay podcast, Williams lambasted his fellow comedian for refuting the joke theft on the same show in 2022.
“He thought that I was just an unknown comedian and that he could appropriate this joke and nobody would know,” Williams said. “The concern was that I had already performed this specific joke on BET’s ComicView twice. It had performed so well on BET’s ComicView that they incorporated it into the commercial.”
“This is not just a random joke — this is my utmost joke and it’s my final joke and it’s my closing joke,” Williams continued. “In 1998, I’m delivering this joke, it’s on ComicView. Cedric comes to The Comedy Store. He observes me in the audience, he approaches me backstage. He praises my performance and expresses his admiration for the joke. Two years later, he’s presenting it as his final joke on the [Original] Kings of Comedy and he’s delivering it word for word, he’s simply transformed my car into a spaceship.”
Paras Griffin/Getty; Unique Nicole/WireImage
Cedric replied in the comments section of a Club Shay Shay Instagram post. “Revisionist History, in spite of whatever Katts opinion,” he wrote. “My career can’t be reduced to One Joke Katt Williams claims as his. I been over 40 movies, my specials and brand speaks volumes for I am.”
“And all that tough talk! Is corny af I’m grown ass man,” he wrote in another comment. “And none of that s— gonna go like you think. You do you and I got this over here..”
Representatives for Williams and Cedric the Entertainer did not immediately respond to EW’s request for comment.
Cedric had previously appeared on Club Shay Shay in 2022 and addressed Katt’s accusations of appropriation at the time. “I’ve seen this guy [Williams] 30 times,” he said. “Like, dog, if you literally was that upset about it, like why didn’t you say nothing, like that don’t even make sense,” Cedric said at the time. “This is some internet shit, and that’s all I can say, so, you know, when I responded to him, he didn’t respond back to me and I left it at that.”
But Williams claims that Cedric had already apologized for appropriating his material. “Him and Steve [Harvey] had already apologized for me so I gave him a pass for a decade,” he said on the podcast. “Are you kidding me? Why would you downplay me like that? Why did I give you a pass if you were just going to lie?”
In other parts of the episode, Williams took jabs at Steve Harvey. “This is like Steve Harvey telling people he used to be homeless. That’s my story, that’s not his story. Steve Harvey was never homeless,” he said. “25 years ago he was making $3,000 a show in cash and doing five shows a week… they just tell the stories.”
“Who cares that they wrote a plaque card for you to do Family Feud on?” Williams later said. “Like, you’re successful because we’re surprised you can talk for a living and it’s entertaining that you going to say some funny country things, but not a writer.”
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