Shayanna Jenkins was upset to learn that her late fiancée, Aaron Hernandez, was the butt of several jokes at Tom Brady’s Netflix roast.
Shayanna Jenkins was engaged to the 27-year-old NFL star and convicted murderer when he ended his own life in prison in 2017. The couple shared a daughter together, Avielle, who is now 11 years old.
Shayanna Jenkins, 34, told TMZ that she felt Hernandez should have been off-limits during Brady’s roast, which streamed live on Sunday as part of the Netflix is a Joke Festival 2024. Yet a handful of comedians did not shy away from mentioning his notorious fall from grace, both directly and indirectly. Some even worked his hanging death into their jokes.
“It’s sad that I’m trying to raise my children in such a cruel world,” Jenkins said. She expressed concern about how the quips may impact her daughter, who she predicted would be unable to avoid becoming aware of the show featuring a group of adults making fun of her father.
Jenkins expressed concern about the impact of the jokes on the daughter she shared with the NFL star, who is now 11 years old.
Comedian and actor Jeff Ross, who is known as the “Roastmaster General,” began his set at the event by saying, “I just came from hell. Aaron Hernandez says hello.”
When standup comedian and celebrity roast regular Nikki Glaser took the stage, she cracked a joke about Hernandez having “a ring around his neck.”
Julian Edelman also mentioned his former New England Patriots teammate’s death during his roast of Brady.
The audience had mixed reactions to the dark material, with some of the jokes at Hernandez’s expense eliciting laughter and others being met with groans.
Glaser was a guest on Howard Stern’s podcast on Monday, and revealed that while the roasters wanted to avoid mentioning Brady’s children, Hernandez was not off-limits.
The tight end was arrested in 2013 and charged with the murder of Odin Lloyd, who was dating Jenkins’ sister. He was convicted in 2015 and sentenced to life in prison.
Hernandez was also charged in connection to the double murder of Daniel de Abreu and Safiro Furtado, but a jury found him not guilty of the crimes in April 2017.
He took his own life five days after being acquitted.