Netflix drops Jeff Ross' Historical Roasts on May 27, introducing new kind of comedy stint featuring prominent historical figures. As the show is now getting controversial for roasting the Jewish diarist Anne Frank, there are questions if there will be Historical Roasts Season 2.
The show has been only on Netflix for a couple of days, so it may take a little while before the streaming service renew it for Season 2. The new series features a stellar cast of famous comedians that roast and get roasted by fellow artists.
Here, fans can see the likes of Abraham Lincoln (Bob Saget) paired with Mary Todd Lincoln (Natasha Leggero) and Harriet Tubman (Yamaneika Saunders) and John Wilkes Booth (John Stamos). But when the time comes Anne Frank (Rachel Feinstein) gets roasted by Adolf Hitler (Gilbert Gottfried), many viewers reacted. Will it cause Historical Roasts Season 2's cancellation?
"Everyone knows you as a hero and best-selling author, but to me, you'll always be little number 825060," Hitler told Frank, per Forward. He even told her famous diary is "the most flammable" of WWII.
As the show is comedy stint, accuracy is not its best forte. Frank's tattooed number at Auschwitz is not revealed, but it is believed to be between A-25060 and A-25271.
RT reported many are annoyed of this exchange of words. Some Jewish groups even called the show "tasteless." The Anne Frank Center in Amsterdam even described it as "tasteless satire" while the Information and Documentation Center on Israel, a Dutch anti-Semitism watchdog, condemned the stint. The Twitter world was even filled with outrage by Dutch users, who said their country's past got ridiculed.
However, Netflix said Historical Roasts is meant to "stimulate the debate on history." Ross, on the other hand, explained that although roasting Frank sounded "outlandish and risky," the riskiest move for him would be "to ignore the most provocative and the most emotional stories." He also added he used Frank's character not only as a WWII hero but also as a "cautionary tale of today and anti-Semitism."
Refinery 29 added if dark humor is something that fans understand, and then the show's talented comedians could make it enjoyable. Some people who watched Frank's episode said they enjoyed it.
There is no news if there will be Historical Roasts Season 2 yet, as it usually takes Netflix a month before it renews shows. The show also has a low rating on IMDb with only 5.2. Television shows typically need to have a large audience to get renewed, so fans have to wait for the streaming service's official announcement for the renewal.
