The Hollywood comedian appeared alongside a news story titled “Usain Bolt, the fastest man alive, tests positive for coronavirus”.
The error has since been fixed, but Hart shared a screenshot and described it as “disrespectful on so many levels”.
He posted a series of face-palm emojis, writing sarcastically: “I must of gotten really fast & tall overnight … I want to take advantage of this moment & race anybody in the world.”
The Jumanji star added: “P.S this is Disrespectful on so many levels … All you can do is laugh. Maybe the Covid 19 shrunk his legs & torso.”
NBC News rectified the mistake and shared a message blaming a “technical error”.
The network said: “Due to a technical error, the social image on this post mistakenly featured a photo of comedian Kevin Hart.
“In the content management system, a social image was not selected, and the system reverted to an image of Hart from an unrelated video. The display image has been corrected.”
It was confirmed this week that eight-time Olympic gold medallist Bolt had tested positive for coronavirus and is isolating at home in Jamaica.
It came after he reportedly held a party to celebrate his 34th birthday.
