A week later, and the world still can’t stop talking about Katt Williams’ explosive interview with Shannon Sharpe on Club Shay Shay.
The almost three-hour interview, which has now amassed 37 million views in only five days, saw Williams taking several shots against a slew of comedians across the industry from Steve Harvey all the way to Rickey Smiley. As clips proceeded to flood everyone’s timelines, fans also took this time as an opportunity to rehash some of Williams’ past feuds, including his fake beef with Dave Chappelle on Twitter in the early aughts, and reminisce over all the comedian’s candid commentary. While the list is exhaustive (and we’re probably missing a few people), we’ve rounded up a tally of everyone Katt Williams has had beef with over the last two decades. Enjoy.
Cedric the Entertainer
Perhaps the most explosive segment of his Club Shay Shay interview, Williams had a lot to say about Cedric the Entertainer. Their tension traces back to 2021, when Williams appeared on a radio show and accused Cedric of joke theft. A year later, Cedric addressed Williams’ allegations (on Club Shay Shay no less) and rendered them “ridiculous.”
“That was ridiculous. I seen Katt 30 times and he didn’t say nothing. All that was some Internet shit…I responded to him, he didn’t respond to me, so I left it at that,” Cedric said during the podcast episode. Williams acknowledged that Cedric’s interview was one of the reasons he agreed to come on Club Shay Shay. “He thought that I was just a no-name comedian and that he could take this joke and nobody would know,” Williams told Sharpe.
As for the joke itself, Williams was referring to his closing bit for BET’s 1998 Comic View show where he reenacted someone driving a car while playing loud music. “This is not just a random joke; this is my best joke, and it’s my last joke and it’s my closing joke,” Williams began. “1998, I’m doing this joke. Cedric comes to The Comedy Store. He watches me in the audience. He comes backstage; he tells me what a great job I did and how much he loves the joke. Two years later, he’s doing that as his last joke on The [Original] Kings of Comedy, and he’s doing it verbatim—he just changed my car into a spaceship.”
Later on in the interview, Williams doubled down on his critique of Cedric, describing him as a “walrus” who “can’t sing, can’t dance, and doesn’t write jokes.” He continued, “He did four comedy specials. They’re so bad, Shannon, they’re not available on Netflix or Tubi.”
Cedric initially responded to Williams’ claims on Club Shay Shay through an Instagram comment underneath an excerpt of the interview. “Revisionist History, regardless of whatever Katts opinion, 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. The ppl I have put on including ‘Katt in the Hat’ [Williams’ old stage name]. At the Gibson Amphitheater,” he posted. Cedric responded yet again through an exclusive with ET where he said, “People get on these blogs and they just start spewing off stuff that’s not even factual. I let the fodder just go out there until I’m ready to respond to it. I am who I am. I stand on that for sure.”
Charlamagne Tha God
Soon after Katt Williams' interview made headlines, Charlamagne shared his thoughts on The Breakfast Club. The radio host disagreed with Katt's allegation of "industry plants" and said Katt was reluctant to call out the people with the "real power."
Charlamagne also came to the defense of Kevin Hart and his journey to success. "I saw Katt say something too about Kevin Hart… [that] Kevin Hart's come-up wasn't organic. I totally disagree with that," Charlamagne said. "I totally disagree with that, and the reason I totally disagree with that is because we watched Kev not succeed in Hollywood. We watched his NBC sitcom. I think it was NBC. We watched his sitcom not succeed in Hollywood. We watched Soul Plane not do well."
Katt and Charlamagne have a standing feud after the radio host shared harsh words regarding Katt's actions. "If Katt Williams does not start moving in a different route, he's going to end up dead or in jail," he said, per Vlad TV.
Chris Rock
Way back when, in March 2016, Williams also came for comedian Chris Rock, implying that he was a sellout. During an interview with The Chicago Morning Takeover, Williams described Rock as “the king of coons” and said, “He doesn’t like Black women. He has the hands of an orangutan. He wouldn’t put his own brother on who has his same name, and what he did to the little African baby he pretended he was raising. I got plenty reasons.”
The remarks came after Williams blasted Rock during a standup set earlier that same month. While apologizing for shading Kevin Hart in a previous set, Williams expressed that he originally meant to critique Rock instead, who he believed was “the head of the snake” when it came to sellouts. “My special will no longer be in Philly. It’ll be in New York at the Barclays, where I cut off the head of Chris Rock, Stepin Fetchit Coon Number One.” In a subtle response, Rock posted an old picture of the two of them on his Instagram, captioned, “It’s old picture Thursday.”
Diddy
In the viral interview, Diddy's name was also brought up by the legendary entertainer. While talking about turning down $50 million to maintain his integrity, Katt took a jab at the mogul for his partying antics.
"Now, I had to turn down $50 million four times…four times. Just to protect my integrity in that virgin hole I was telling you about," Williams said at the 1:45:00 mark. Earlier in the interview, William took pride in not engaging in sexual acts to boost his career.
"Cause P Diddy wants to party, and you got to tell him no… You got to tell him no. I did," he dissed, seemingly referring to Diddy's ongoing sexual assault lawsuits. “See, I got the receipts for everything I'm telling you. That's why I can say them so freely," Williams added.
Faizon Love
While Williams has yet to publicly address any of these claims, Faizon Love has had a lot to say about Katt Williams over the past few years. In a 2019 segment with VladTV, Faizon alleged that Williams once pulled a gun on him over a financial dispute. He recalled that Williams reportedly owed him money and things quickly turned dark when Faizon showed up to collect. A few years later, in February 2023, Faizon rehashed his public dispute with Williams and called the comedian “all mouth and no product” during an interview with The Art of Dialogue.
Following Williams’ appearance on Club Shay Shay, Faizon took the opportunity to bash on Williams yet again, saying, “It’s hard to address lunacy, and hypocrisy, and downright ignorance. But it’s so funny how many people think this dumb, stupid motherfucker is spittin’ truth. But that’s the Internet I guess—you guys want to believe in something so bad. Listen to what he’s saying; he’s actually calling for help. He’s calling for help. None of the shit he says lines up with nothing.”
Kevin Hart
Perhaps one of the longest feuds on this list, Kevin Hart and Williams’ feud dates all the way back to 2014. During an interview with TMZ Sports that year, WIlliams was asked who he thought was the funniest athlete, replying with, “I think that Shaq and Russell Simmons should get out of comedy and stay in their lane.” He continued, “Get out of here, you bum, before I take the rest of your girls like you took Kevin Hart from me [...] I want my bitch back. ”
Williams continued to take digs at Hart throughout the years, regularly calling him a “puppet” and challenging him to standup battles. Most recently, the early aughts comedian doubled down on his opinion of Hart as an industry plant during his interview with Sharpe. "In 15 years in Hollywood, no one in Hollywood has a memory of going to a sold-out Kevin Hart show, there being a line for him, [him] ever getting a standing ovation at any comedy club."
He continued, "He already had his deals when he got here...what do you think a plant is?"
Williams elaborated on his claim further, saying Hart's history matches up to an industry plant correlation. "Have we heard of a comedian that came to LA, and in his first year in LA, he had his own sitcom on network television? And had his own movie called Soul Plane that he was leading? No, we've never heard of that before that person or since that person," Williams stated.
Hart swiftly responded to Williams’ claims in a tweet saying, “Gotta get that anger up outcha champ…It’s honestly sad. In the meantime…Please enjoy MY MOVIE TRAILER to my next film ‘LIFT’ which will be dropping on @/netflix in 8 days!!!!!”
Ludacris
One of the most surprising moments of Sharpe’s interview was when Williams accused Ludacris of his involvement with the illuminati in exchange for success. "We were both invited to an Illuminati thing," Williams said, claiming that both he and Ludacris were up for a role in the late John Singleton's 2 Fast 2 Furious. "It had to be one or the other of us, and decisions had to be made."
Katt claimed that one of them had to cut off their hair and stop wearing specific sideburn styles. "And the next person, they said, was going to get $200 million because they were going to pay him $10 million a movie to do 20 movies. One of those persons turned out to be Ludacris, and the other person turned out to be Katt Williams," he stated.
The success of the Fast and Furious franchise made Ludacris a Hollywood star thanks to his role as Tej Parker in the iconic car racing series. Williams then turned to Ludacris’ wife, Eudoxie, saying that the deal gave him a "a light-skinned ugly-faced wife."
Ludacris responded to William's allegations in a freestyle rap over Kanye West's “Devil in a New Dress,” denying illuminati affiliation. "Never been Illuminati, only Ill-Luda-nati/And I only left with bitches when coming from any party," he rapped. "Now I'm married with kids, the evolution of life/Never been a clout-chaser, never say shit for likes/RIP John Singleton, you never have to flex/When you earn every one of your Fast & Furious checks/Afro with the sideburns, yeah, that's my signature/Addiction's on the rise, comedians check your temperature."
Michael Blackson
Issues between Williams and Michael Blackson first arose in 2022. Blackson alleged that while filming an episode of Wild ‘n Out together, Williams verbally attacked him for comments he had made about him on Drink Champs in 2021. “Look at Katt Williams. He fought a 10-year-old kid and smoked crack, but he’s so likable and lovable. Katt can go out and do a movie or whatever he wants,” Blackson said during the Drink Champs episode.
After wrapping their Wild ‘n Out episode, Blackson took to social media to address his beef with Williams. “Life is too short to be beefing especially with people you love. I love every comedian like a brother, sometimes we say things about each other and it comes out the wrong way but we don’t mean no harm,” Blackson tweeted. “Katt took it as insult and I had no idea he was still mad till we met on the taping of Wild N’ Out yesterday. Non of the cast including Nick [Cannon] had no idea we were beefing.” He continued, “Let me know how you want to handle this Katt, I’m down with a VS on stage or you can just fight my 15 yr old son,” in an attempt to make amends.
Cut to Williams’ interview with Sharpe, and it seems that no amends were made since. When asked if he’s ever been booed during a standup set, Williams confirmed that he has but reiterated that he believed some comedians should get booed more as a learning experience and used Blackson as an example. “Most comedians don’t get booed enough. I mean, this is how you end up with a Michael Blackson, who’s a real African doin’ a fake African accent.”
He continued, “This guy is mad at me. All I did was give him the best advice of his life. Remember, he was wearing those dirty dashikis, and I told him he needed to dress to be in the position that he's trying to say that he's in. And if you're the African king of comedy, sir, there's actually comedians in Africa doing comedy. If you going to say that, you got to go to Africa and get a school, dude. You got to put in some work. These guys, they take my advice, they change their whole persona, and then they hate me for it."
In response to Williams’ comments, Blackson took to X (formerly known as Twitter) on Jan. 3 and had a few things to say. “I’m so confused, I’m African with a fake African accent. My accent had me roasted every day in school and in the comedy clubs in America and I wish I could get rid of it, even my Philly accent is fake. I guess the only thing real about me is my deek.” He went on to say, “Katt Williams is definitely top 10 comedians of all time and top 5 alive but we all have to agree he’s not the Katt of 2005.”
He continued, “Katt Williams is a very smart midget neega, he took shots at the top 10 comedians alive today so we can all respond and make him relevant again.”
Rickey Smiley
Rickey Smiley and Williams’ dispute traces back to their film Friday After Next. In an interview with Club Shay Shay earlier in 2023, Smiley revealed that he was initially supposed to play Money Mike (a character that catapulted Williams’ career), while Williams was supposed to play Santa Claus. "Katt Williams is supposed to play my character. And someone came along and said, 'No, we want [Katt Williams] to play Mike.'"
In response to Smiley’s claims, Williams aired it all out during his interview with Sharpe. “This man told you he had Katt Williams' role. He was going to be Money Mike, and Katt Williams was going to be the Santa Claus," Williams began. "We auditioned in Los Angeles. I auditioned No. 201. Two hundred Black comedians auditioned for the role of Money Mike with me. You're saying all 201 of us was auditioning, and you had already had the role and had already shot the role in four days?"
Williams continued to rip Smiley for his lies. He also claimed that the radio host's best role was when he wore a dress. "Now, what was Rickey Smiley's next movie? Was it First Sunday? Did he wear a dress in it? You bet he did. It's in my contract," Williams said, referring to Smiley's character as Bernice Jenkins. "That's where he's a believable actor. He and Tyler Perry can't play a man to save their life. They play good women."
Rickey responded to Williams' claims on his morning show, saying, "I had no reason to lie about that."
"They added that whole pimp twist to that character, which was actually a better decision and made it funnier. There was no way in the hell I could have executed that role like that, and I'm glad that they made that decision," Smiley stated.
Additionally, he clarified that Williams' contract had nothing to do with his character in First Sunday.
Steve Harvey
Williams and Harvey’s decades-long feud first turned public in 2008 when Williams challenged Harvery to join him in a stand-up-comedy battle. The duo went on to perform in the same show on New Year’s Eve in Detroit that year, where Williams made several digs against Harvey. More recently, Williams doubled down on his beef with Harvey during his Club Shay Shay interview where he insinuated that Harvey plagiarized material from Mark Curry. In his conversation with Shannon Sharpe, Williams heavily implied that Harvey had copied elements of Curry’s show Hangin’ With Mr. Cooper into his own, The Steve Harvey Show.
“The same Steve that went to go watch Mark Curry do his whole sitcom and then stole everything Mark Curry had,” Williams began. “Now Steve got a sitcom where he the principal, and he wear a suit. And then he gets this high-top fade, making all Black men think he got the best lineup in the business. And it’s a man unit.”
Williams also insinuated that Harvey didn’t have the right chops to make it as a movie star, forcing him to stick to hosting Family Feud. “You ask him, ‘Why not a movie star?’ ‘I didn’t want to be a movie star,’” Williams said, mimicking Harvey. “This the same negro that hated on Bernie [Mac] with this same thing… There are 30,000 new scripts in Hollywood every year. Not one of them asked for a bumpkin Black dude that can’t talk good [...] and look like Mr. Potato Head. There ain’t none. You have to have range.”
Tiffany Haddish
During an appearance on Frank and Wanda in the Morning in 2018, Williams expressed his confusion over the trajectory of fame for Black comedians in the industry, where some are elevated to star status almost instantly by Hollywood and others aren’t. Throughout the conversation, he took several digs at Tiffany Haddish (who was arguably at the height of her career at the time), insinuating that no one could recall any of their favorite jokes of hers and that she hasn’t proven her ability to headline or tour her own special. At the time, Kevin Hart came to Haddish’s defense in an episode of The Breakfast Club where he said, “You don’t hear Chris Rock, Dave Chappelle, Kings of Comedy, [Jerry] Seinfeld, George Lopez, Eddie Griffin, Steve Martin, Martin Short, you don’t hear the guys who got on top and made it by doing what they love, complain about the people coming under them.”
“Don’t blame everyone else for your shit,” he continued. In response, Williams accused Hart of adding more fuel to the flame, in order to sell tickets for his and Haddish’s upcoming movie at the time, Night School. “Everyone just saw that you would do anything to sell a fucking movie,” Williams began in an Instagram Live. “Yeah, we going to see it; everyone want to go see Tiffany beat your ass.”
Flash-forward a few years later, and Haddish caught another stray by Williams during his Club Shay Shay interview. “Guy Torry did a beautiful special about The Comedy Store and Phat Tuesday, where he said that Steve [Harvey], and Cedric [the Entertainer], and Kevin Hart, and Tiffany Haddish came through there and made… All lies. Steve and Cedric never performed at The Comedy Store at all. Tiffany was only seen at the Laugh Factory,” Williams said about Haddish’s early career. Haddish swiftly responded to Williams’ claims in an Instagram comment underneath a gossip account where she wrote, “I am not mad I just wish he would get his facts right about me. Dang I guess I will send him a reminder text. But are we sure that is Katt Williams? He looks a lot like Charleston White.”
Soon later, Haddish took another dig at Williams while performing at the Dania Improv Comedy Theater in Dania Beach, Florida, where she said, “Come to L.A., n***a. I’ve been doing shit [...] I was on That’s So Raven … I was on all the shits. I did extra work, I was on all the little white people TV shows, the Black people TV shows, I used to be on Dance 360 … I’ve been out here. I’ve been telling jokes since nineteen-hundred and ninety-six.”
Tyler Perry
Although Williams recently called out Tyler Perry during his Club Shay Shay interview, the low-key beef between the two kickstarted all the way back in 2016. While filming a segment with Rock Rants, Williams was asked to answer a series of rapid-fire questions involving celebrities and his opinions of them. When asked about Oprah, the comedian responded, “One of the most underrated women of the century.” For Drake, he said, “Legendary.” And for Anthony Anderson, he replied, “Hilarious.” But when it came to Tyler Perry, Williams responded with, “Drag queen.”
Looking at the comments Williams made about Perry during Club Shay Shay, we begin to understand why he called Perry a drag queen all those years ago. “[Rickey Smiley] and Tyler Perry can’t play a man to save their life. They play good women,” Williams began, in reference to Perry’s notable character Madea, who he’s played in over 10 films. “We put too much pressure on Tyler Perry, you know what I mean? He ain’t put nobody on,” he continued. “The people that been in his productions, they not famous. All them could walk through the mall without security. Be what you going to be, but put your people on. If you a gay person and you in there, put some other gay people on. Put somebody on, or don't be wondering why people keep saying gatekeepers, 'cause, clearly, y'all keeping these gates."
Young Gunz
This one’s a real throwback. Taking it all the way back to 2005, Williams also had a short-lived beef with Philadelphia hip-hop duo Young Gunz. The pair, made up of rappers Young Chris and Neef Buck, took a shot at Williams in their record “Set It Off,” where they called his character from Friday After Next, Money Mike, a “fake-ass pimp.”
In response, Williams released a diss track with West Coast rapper The Game (who also had his own beef with the duo), where they flamed the group through a freestyle over their own “Set It Off” beat. “Fuck the Young Gunz and both of your fans/Somebody in your camp should’ve told you to stop it/Now you two rappers gettin’ fucked by a comic,” Williams raps in the track’s first verse.
