Twitter Reacts To Peyton Manning's Roast Of Kevin Durant At ESPY 2017

The Excellence in Sports Performance Yearly (ESPY) Awards were given away to deserving winners in a star-studded spectacle Wednesday night. This year’s awards were a mixed bag of laughter and emotions, with the latter including tributes to honor top sports stars who died in 2017.

The center-stage at the awards show was taken by former ace quarterback Peyton Manning who turned host for the night. Like every host at an awards show, Manning opened up the ESPY by taking jabs at a number of athletes and teams. Right from his opening monolog to a skit that featured him adjusting to retirement, almost every gag was well received and was met with a chorus of laughter.

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In one of his jokes, while praising the gold medal-winning Final Five team of gymnasts Simone Biles, Gabby Douglas, Laurie Hernandez, Madison Kocian and Aly Raisman, Peyton mocked NBA player Kevin Durant, telling the crowd that the women were “so dominant” during the summer Olympics that “Kevin Durant wants to play for them next year.

He also took a jibe at wrestler and last year’s host John Cena: “John Cena is an athlete the same way Ryan Lochte is a reliable witness.” He ripped apart former hosts saying: “I’m honored to follow in the footsteps of all the other great ESPY hosts, timeless icons like Jimmy Smits, Jeff Foxworthy and, of course, "Who’s the Boss’, Tony Danza. The only difference between me and those other guys? I knew when to retire.”

Talking about the New England Patriots’ Super Bowl win over the Falcons he joked about their attention span and said: “Because I’m being forced to say it, I love that Tom Brady and Bill Belichick won their fifth Super Bowl. Enough of that crap. Enough of that. I really do feel for the Falcons. Because you know, I’ve been there. But I want you to know I believe in the Falcons. I believe in (quarterback) Matt Ryan and (coach) Dan Quinn. And I know in my heart the Falcons will be back. I wanted the Falcons to hear that from me now, at the beginning of the show, because they’re going to stop paying attention three-quarters of the way in. Because that’s what they seem to do.”

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However, his joke on Durant caught the maximum amount of attention on social media. The reason was not just because it was funny but because of the reaction (or rather, non-reaction) of the person at whose expense the joke was made.

Durant had previously abandoned Russell Westbrook and the Oklahoma City Thunder in last year for the Golden State Warriors, joining a team that had just won an NBA-record 73 regular season games and come within a dramatic Game 7 ending of winning two straight Finals. While cameras caught Westbrook in the audience seemingly trying to hide a smile, Durant seemed to be absolutely unamused. His mother, who was sitting next to him, however, appeared to have thoroughly enjoyed the joke.

Durant’s disapproving reaction was not lost on Twitter where people came up with memes and reactions on the situation. Most joined in on the joke and praised Manning.

Durant also won the award for Best Championship Performance of the year in the show.