Julian Edelman slammed for his ‘awful’ Aaron Hernandez joke that left Rob Gronkowski speechless during Tom Brady roast
Former New England Patriots star Julian Edelman has been criticized for a “terrible” joke he told about Aaron Hernandez while roasting Tom Brady on Sunday night.
Brady’s former coach Bill Belichick, his former teammates, comedians and some celebrities took turns making fun of the seven-time Super Bowl winner in a Netflix special hosted by Kevin Hart.
But some also made fun of each other or focused their attention on other people from Brady’s life or career. One of them was Aaron Hernandez, the former Patriots tight end.
Hernandez committed suicide in prison in 2017 while serving a life sentence for the 2013 murder of semi-professional football player Odin Lloyd.
But that didn’t stop Hernandez from being the subject of some very crude jokes on Sunday night, and Edelman’s was the most controversial.
Julian Edelman has been criticized for a “terrible” joke he told about Aaron Hernandez
Hernandez’s former Patriots teammate Rob Gronkowski looked stunned after the joke
Hernandez committed suicide in prison in 2017 while serving a life sentence for murder
Edelman explained that “everyone always asks me how big Gronks (Gronkowski) d*** is” and continued, “Don’t get me wrong, it gets the job done.”
“But there was another Patriots tight end (Hernandez). Now he was hanged.’
The joke received a stunned reaction from the arena crowd, as the camera cut to Gronkowski and Kevin Hart.
Gronkowski was speechless and put his hand over his mouth, while Hart looked like he was laughing nervously.
Comedian Nikki Glaser also made an insensitive joke that Hernandez had “a ring around his neck.”
Hernandez’s ex-fiancée Shayanna Jenkins – the mother of his only child – told TMZ that ‘it’s sad that I’m trying to raise my children in such a cruel world.’
The joke also didn’t go over well on social media, as viewers of the Netflix show were quick to condemn Edelman.
One wrote: “If you make such a dark joke it better be funny.”
Another commented: ‘Laughing at a man who killed himself for a cheap laugh. Being sick of it’.
‘Bad taste. Just awful,” another added. “That joke was so ruined. Inappropriate,” said another viewer.
“Where’s the funny part?” asked another.
Viewers of the roast took to social media to condemn Edelman for his joke about Hernandez
After his death, doctors discovered that Hernandez had a severe case of the brain disease CTE
After his death in 2017, doctors discovered that 27-year-old Hernandez had advanced chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), a degenerative brain disease linked to concussions and other head trauma common in the NFL.
Dr. Ann McKee, the director of the CTE Center at Boston University, said Hernandez had stage 3 (out of 4) of the disease, which can cause violent mood swings, depression and other cognitive impairment.
“We were told this was the most serious case they had ever seen for someone Aaron’s age,” attorney Jose Baez said in 2017.
Baez also said Hernandez showed signs of memory loss, impulsiveness and aggression that could be attributed to CTE.
In July 2019, Hernandez’s estate also settled a wrongful death lawsuit brought by the families of two men whose murders he was acquitted.
Prosecutors alleged that Hernandez fatally shot Daniel de Abreu and Safiro Furtado in 2012 after a confrontation at a nightclub.
Hernandez committed suicide just a few days after being acquitted of most charges in the double murder case.