When I read the quotes from Kevin Hart’s interview with Ellen DeGeneres, I felt like I was smoking crack. The whole thing just had a “wait, wtf is happening” vibe to it, right? In the month since Kevin Hart quit that bitch and refused to host the Oscars after his old homophobic tweets came to light, there has been no mention of “let’s get Kevin Hart back.” He quit. He refused to apologize – which is all the Academy asked of him – and he quit. No one was like “omg, come back!” Granted, from the sounds of things, the Academy is still scrambling and trying to figure sh-t out. But literally no one was like “let’s beg Kevin Hart to come back.” So it was especially strange for Ellen to suddenly cape for Kevin and act like he had behaved impeccably and we were all still mad at him for no reason, and that we’re all just begging for him to come back. What is this all about?
As it turns out, the Ellen appearance felt more like one part of a larger campaign for Hart to “come back” in some way. Hart also sat down with Variety for an interview, which took place before his Ellen appearance, but was published afterwards. In the interview, he says (in part):
“Would I ever do it? No, it’s done. It’s done,” Hart said. “The moment came and it was a blessing and I was excited at the opportunity and I still am. In my mind I got the job, it was a dream job, and things came up that simply prohibited it from happening. But I don’t believe in going backwards.”
“When I go on that stage, it will be because I’ve somehow figured out a way to win the Oscar,” Hart said. “Somehow I’ll get to the stage but it’s not going to be in this way because it just comes with such a weird cloud at this point.” He added, “There’s no ill will toward the Academy.”
“You’re living in times where words and points of view can be misconstrued because of how strong the internet is,” Hart said. “The manipulation of headlines is what was amazing when this whole thing hit. It was, ‘Kevin Hart steps down because he refuses to apologize for homophobic tweets.’ This was what was said and it was blasted all over the internet, and the word ‘again’ somehow got lost, which was a major word. I’ve addressed this several times.”
Variety makes a big deal about how Hart seems to have changed his tune just hours later when speaking with Ellen, but it actually felt like Ellen was trying to orchestrate something for her friend. Or something, I really don’t know. It feels like such a weird conversation to have – he quits, then does the thing the Academy asked of him, which is apologize. No one talks about getting him the job back, but he seems to think he’s in a position to reject the Academy once again. What a bizarre farce.
Variety also makes a big deal about how Hart has repeatedly said that he’s apologized before for those homophobic tweets, but no one can find this phantom apology or explanation. Vulture even investigated the claim of some long-standing apology from a decade ago, and they didn’t find anything either. When Variety said as much, this was Hart’s response:
“It’s easy not to find the good,” Hart said when asked where the elusive apology is. “When me and Will Ferrell did ‘Get Hard,’ and we did the promo tour, that’s when Kevin Hart was hit with so much stuff … I remember the span in 2011 when this came up, and I had to say to a person in the LGBTQ community, ‘Hey, I understand. And you know what? I’m wrong. But I can’t do nothing about that joke because it was done. I can’t do nothing about the tweets because they’re out there. I was wrong. It’ll never happen again and I’m sorry. Please accept my apology.’ So when people say, ‘Yo, I can’t find it,’ well, go ask the individual who dug up the stuff from 2009 to go do the same. I can’t put that energy into something that’s in my past. I can’t put that energy into negativity.”
Ah, there we go. So now it’s not just about homophobic tweets from a decade ago, it’s about the fact that Hart has done several films laced with homophobic comedy AND he’s done homophobic bits in his stand-up, AND he’s never really repeatedly apologized for any of that sh-t.
Here’s the Ellen video… this is gross. The waves of self-pity Kevin Hart feels for himself is unsettling – it wouldn’t even occur to him to feel genuinely sorry for all of the LGBTQ kids who get bullied or assaulted. He’s too busy feeling sorry for himself. Also: it’s not “slander.”
Photos courtesy of WENN.
He needs to be cancelled. Period.
agreed. I haven’t cared for him at all since the whole cheating scandal happened, and never understood why people seemed to find him so hilarious. I am glad he’s not hosting, although dismayed that it appears the Oscars won’t have a host now.
Yes, I never liked him so feels good to be proven right that I had good reason not to. He’s trash. I’m disappointed in Ellen, “using the don’t let the haters bring you down!” Crap. His playing the victim; negativity, miscontrued. He tweeted that horrific ish. Hope his career is over.
Word.
The fact that hes throwing himself a pity party leads me to think he is homohobic because if not how difficult is it to say youre not? This is more about his ego than caring about LGBTQ people atill under attack just for being who they are.
Fame and fortune have really gone to his head. Just a check of his IG shows that. He’s such an entitled a$$hole. You quit. It’s one job. He’s still rich, he’s still selling out shows and he still has fans, so spare me this victim bullsh@t
Why does he seem to think it would cost him something to use his platform to apologize one more time? That’s what’s craziest about all this to me. Even if he were just a regular schmegular person and one more apology was all that was being asked for, that would be totally reasonable. But with his wealth, fame, and career still intact, his reaction just seems even more unreasonable. If he had handled it differently, I’d be on team ‘there’s no need for him to stay cancelled’.
A lot of times when things like this happen, (unless a violent crime has been committed by whichever person being called to the carpet) what those genuinely offended are really looking for is to see if the person has had a change of heart and behavior, and to hear someone acknowledge that the homophobia or any other inequality or abuse experienced is not okay. That’s pretty much it. Not an excuse to permanently ruin someone, end their career, or something else diabolical, as nobody goes their whole life without saying or doing anything insensitive to someone’s inequality at some point. Sure, there will often also be many people who will latch onto what was said or done for their own abusive, petty, hateful reasons too. That can usually be dealt with.
He probably would have done a decent job hosting too, making it funny. I rarely watch the Oscars though.
You’ve nailed it. Given his platform, a real apology could benefit the lives of so many potential victims of hate crimes that are currently justified by the perpetrators’ own bigotry, lack of intelligence (so it behooves a celebrity to give them a new reason to not be filed with hate, instead of justifying it), and/or fear. It shakes me to my core that young children in my own sociological community are still dying at the hands of their parents for simply being who they are — regardless of actual orientation (sometimes they’re too young to have even defined it yet), their *perceived* orientation is used as an excuse to murder them. It’s not simply an “Oh, those parents were abusive and that child would have died in their care anyway you look at it.” It’s a deeply ingrained phenomena that is literally still ending the lives of beautiful people who have done nothing wrong.
And furthermore, there are still completely vile people out there who can empathize with the parents! That’s why these “jokes” aren’t just jokes. It’s why someone has to be called to task, and maybe cut off from opportunities that would have otherwise been theirs to use to their advantage, for their complete lack of ability to empathize with victims of abuse, assault, and murder/suicide. It really terrifies me that people don’t get this, and choose to side with those who would amplify the train of thought that allows one to joke about violence against a kind of person they don’t like/fear/don’t understand.
So Kevin Hart quit a job and now he is “considering “ going back to the job he quit. In the real world how many employers would hire a person back after they quit? In particular in this case the Academy just wanted him to apologize?
The whole Ellen interview just seemed so fake. Is this the same Ellen who gave Caitlyn Jenner side eye over her views on same sex marriage?
All the parties in this mess should just have several seats( the Academy could not have googled Kevin’s social media posts or comedy act before hiring him?)
PS: Someone call Wanda Sykes and see if she can host
This really annoys me. I’ve seen people on Facebook posting that it’s racist to be holding Kevin to a different standard than white celebs who can get away with a quick apology and breezily move on, but it’s just not right to act like the cure for racism is to let homophobia slide. He hasn’t apologise, except for in that video (and he seemed to walk back on the apology on Ellen) and he’s doing harm to all LGBTI folk, but especially black men and women, by acting as if LGBTI people asking for respect is just a bunch of jealous ‘haters’. It really gets my goat!
Ok so here is what I could find a short amount of time.
https://bossip.com/1684671/kevin-hart-ousted-as-oscars-host-over-old-tweets/
There are several tweets and videos where he glazes over things and said that he will not apologize because he has already done so and he has grown as a person blah blah blah . Then at the end as he was stepping down he issued an apology.
he didn’t really apologize, though, until it became clear it was a bigger issue. the whole effort was pretty pathetic once he did apologize, too.
I agree but why resign because you don’t want to say sorry and in the same tweet say sorry?
There is no pleasing everyone in a situation like this, and imo further apologising doesn’t make it more sincere.
Ellen comes off sounding like only her opinion matters.
Yeah she often sounds like that, that’s how she is
Saw her Netflix special, it’s ok
This things she’s doing with Kevin is not a great look. Maybe she really likes him for some reason?
Yeah, I thought it was weird how Ellen suddenly got into the PR business. And my eyes got a workout from rolling so hard at how many times he said the same thing repeatedly, as if it was written and rehearsed. She’s trying to do damage control for him and I think it ended up hurting them both.
Yes. And mine rolled hard again when, in the Variety interview cited above, he referred to himself in the third person.
It seems like every year now there’s some controversy taking the gloss off the Oscars.
Just watch Don Lemon’s take. He sums it up beautifully.
He explains that he’s at the intersection as a gay POC but doesn’t try to diminish Ellen’s accomplishments.
I feel bad that the conversation has shifted towards Ellen but…I’m one of the people that feel that her story is the exception and not the rule. She STILL has white privilege all over it…
Her special was cute but…it felt like she was trying to justify that she was still « that girl » who risked it all when she came out.
No one is trying to rewrite her story. But the truth of the matter is that today she has more money than she knows what to do with it and…yes she is disconnected.
Going back to Hart who gets to, once again, hide behind Ellen…he is NOT a FUCKING MARTYR!!!
No, he has not apologized!
Hosting the Oscars is not life and death situation.
Sorry, I’m tired and all over the place…hope my rambling made sense!!!
I dislike kevin. and he did say some stupid stuff. I don’t think he’s good enough for a host. however, nowadays people have to be perfect in order not to have their whole career destroyed. I don’t condone that. people have to stop acting as if they were the personification of morality and perfection and had the right to play with people’s lives. everybody’s pretending to be tolerant and understanding of human rights and minority rights, but the moment an individual makes a mistake he’s ‘canceled’, thrown under the bus and ostracized without any consideration. there are hardly any people who weren’t ‘canceled’ in the last year. it’s like people are playing god.
Word
I agree that sometimes the “backlash” goes overboard, but is it really asking all that much to expect people NOT to have ever spewed racist/homophobic/sexist nonsense? Feel like it is setting the bar very low. Plenty of adults haven’t. Why not let them shine instead of a problematic a**hole? And I just mean in general. Rant over, sorry. Haha.
@Bebe Please keep in mind that wide LGBTQ acceptance is fairly recent so I don’t think homophobia can be viewed in the same way as racism and sexism. A person who was tweeting the n word 10 years ago knew that what they where doing was wrong because society has deem racism wrong for centuries but 10 years ago homophobia was the norm, watch any TV shows or movies from the 2000s, listen to old Eminem, heck even Hilary Clinton was against gay marriage initially. I’m not saying it’s right we have to take into account historical context. You don’t know what you don’t know until you know. LGBT folk have really advance their cause more than any other group I can think of and have manage to change people hearts and minds which is amazing but people should also remember that some of this wrong doing was a product of it’s time.
I too is not a fan of Kevin Hart, I think he’s egotistical and arrogant and I cannot stand how he’s always trying to blame “haters” for his shortcomings(see the cheating, cowboys and Indian stuff etc). That being said the self righteousness of society nowadays is so eyeroll inducing to me. Everyone is sitting on their mighty high horse judging everybody else’s worthiness and have set up this impossible standard of perfection. Kevin has made a mistake and HE DID apologize after he stepped down, he is no longer joking about and tweeting homophobic stuff but people won’t let go until his life is over. That’s cancel culture for you.
No he did not apologise. The guy is an homophobic douche bag and don’t make excuses for his gross gaslighting behaviour, remember this is the same guy that cheated on his wife so save us the pity party!
Please. I am sick of all the sympathy for perpetrators. This man’s career is just fine.
He disgusts me!
This is just like when he cheated on his wife this last time around and all he could talk about was the “bitter and negative people” on the internet who were focused on “bringing him down.” My good sir, THIS IS YOUR FAULT! Not ours! Take responsibility for you actions, period. I can’t stand people like him.
YES. exactly my feelings.
LMAO so when he says he already apologized for the tweets, he was talking about a general apology he gave to one LGBT individual? And then got mad because literally no one outside the two of them knows about it???
I know I shouldn’t laugh, but this is the height of ridiculousness. All he had to do was tweet something contrite that more than one person would know about.
The fact that he’s taking this whole time to cast himself as the victim in some smear campaign tells me all I need to know.
The reason why he hasn’t done more apologies is because he still thinks that stuff is hilarious and is still grossed out by LGBTQ people (esp gay men). That’s his right, just as it’s everyone right to roll their eyes and ignore him.
I imagine this is how he sounded when he “apologized” to his wife for cheating on her. Ugh, no thanks. The older I get, the more I see that many people do not know how to form a sincere and honest apology. Some are just totally incapable of owning their responsibility in a situation and being sorry. True apologies are an art form. Sad to say, but I think expecting a decent apology from Kevin is like getting blood from a rock. Ain’t gonna happen.
We seem to be overlooking the fact that he also threatened physical violence towards his son.
I’ve got two major problems with Mr. Hart: he’s a, seemingly, unapologetic homophobe and he espouses physically violence.
He’s forever cancelled me.
Further, thou doth protest too much.
He is a typical gaslighting manipulator. Just like ED. Sick. I can’t stand this type of behavior.
I cancel them both.
Ellen did that to her friend Johnny depp and now she is at it again with Kevin Hart, it is disgusting how the double standards works for the ones that have powerful friends.
This needs to be said because I feel like a lot of people – especially celebrities – don’t get this.
I don’t believe in harassing people endlessly about their mistakes. I don’t think that fixes things. But you shouldn’t expect for them to magically stop being issues because you apologized. An apology isn’t a magic eraser. It doesn’t fix any damage done. An apology is a promise – that you understand that you did wrong and THAT YOU WILL HENCEFORTH DO BETTER. You are not owed the emotional closure of forgiveness. You do not get back everything you had taken away for being a jerk. Sincere apologies are not a transaction. You should not always expect a refund.
I co-sign your statement and add that that lovely old cliche is totally true: With great power comes great responsibility. Much like Jay-Z*, Kevin Hart is not a business man, he is A Business, man… He generates a lot of money while displaying some pretty deplorable beliefs and behaviors. As a comedian, he holds a mirror to society, and as an insanely successful person, he creates an image within that mirror in which others find solace and emulate. Instead of owning that power, he creates a narcissistic narrative that is now a template for those who take his “character” at face value. He should understand that if he understands nothing else because he’s been in the game for so long. And his miscomprehension of the situation is all the more troubling *because* it’s literally his job to see human failing and poke at it.
He’s not seeing it, so it begs us to ask which are his jokes, and which are the things he really believes about the world and the people in it? And if that’s in question, then we have to wonder if he’s actually good at his job, and if he should be allowed to keep it. Run a mistake endlessly into the ground? No. Demand public evidence (because it’s a public job!) for deep analysis and change? Yes.
*Also problematic, just to be clear.
As I stated in the Friday post about Kevin Hart, he did not apologize during the “Get Hard” press junket. Here is the link to what he said.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ti4s05J1sJc
“Get Hard” came out in 2015, so I don’t know what he’s talking about with the 2011 reference.
(Will Ferrell’s face when he is questioned is classic, but then he goes on to say that homophobia is a “societal norm.” He didn’t do himself any favors, either.)
the anglo-american comedy “community” is fllled with hacky, egomaniacal, entitled snowflakes. kevin hart is just another one of them whose ego is out of control.
in a 2015 breakfast club interview (that is basically *three years ago*, kevin), he very creepily stated that he would never “play a gay role,” even if it meant winning an oscar for it. while alluding to the fact that he’d be desperate for an oscar.
draw your own conclusions.