Jeff Ross says Netflix once had Paul McCartney in its sights for a celebrity roast, but the Beatle was never interested in taking the chair. In an interview tied to the streamer’s recent Roast of Kevin Hart, Ross confirmed that McCartney had been approached early in the process and described the idea as something almost too perfect to believe.
“We did ask Paul McCartney at one point,” Ross said, calling it a “fantasy roast” and adding that a McCartney roast “would be good for the world” because the former Beatle is so universally adored. Ross’s point was not that McCartney needed the attention, but that the contrast between his untouchable public image and the brutal format of a roast would have made for a wildly funny event.
According to the reporting, McCartney declined the offer. Netflix ultimately moved on and centered its latest roast on Kevin Hart, following the earlier Tom Brady special, The Greatest Roast of All Time. Jeff Ross, who executive-produced the Hart roast, said the streamer had considered several big names and that the hunt for the right target is often harder than writing the jokes themselves.
Ross’s comments also underscored how roasts have become a major part of Netflix’s comedy playbook. The streamer has repeatedly tried to land stars with enough cultural weight to make the format feel like an event, and McCartney fit that idea perfectly: a global icon, beloved by multiple generations, and almost impossible to imagine being publicly skewered on purpose.
The reporting also notes that McCartney was not the only major name Netflix explored. Will Smith was reportedly approached informally as well, with the idea that a roast could help reshape his public image after the Oscars slap controversy, but he passed too.
That leaves Ross with the kind of dream booking roasters always imagine but rarely get: a target so famous and so loved that the joke becomes the event itself. In Ross’s words, McCartney was the closest thing to a fantasy booking, even if it never came to pass.
