Comedian Kevin Hart Relents to LGBTQ Outrage Mob over His Jokes: 'I Did F*** Up'
A year after Kevin Hart stepped down as host of the Oscars, the comedian admitted that he should’ve handled the controversy surrounding 10-year-old comments differently.
“With the whole Oscars thing, there was a big gap between what I thought the problem was versus what the problem really was,” he told Men’s Health in a recent interview.
“It wasn’t until close friends like Wanda Sykes, Lee Daniels, and Ellen [DeGeneres] talked to me and explained what they didn’t hear me say that I understood,” he added. “Then I was like, ‘Oh, s–t — I did f–k up.’”
Within 48 hours of when Hart accepted the invitation to host the Oscars last year, tweets and jokes from 2009 to 2011 resurfaced, and many began to push for the boycott of the award ceremony.
One of the comments that sparked the cancel culture outrage was from his 2010 comedy special “Seriously Funny” in which he talked about one of “his biggest fears” being his son coming out as gay.
WARNING: The following video contains graphic language that some viewers will find offensive.
In 2015, Hart told Rolling Stone that he wouldn’t make the same kind of jokes as he did in the early 2010s.
“I wouldn’t tell that joke today, because when I said it, the times weren’t as sensitive as they are now,” he said. “I think we love to make big deals out of things that aren’t necessarily big deals, because we can.”
But as the scrutiny continued to grow online following the Oscars hosting announcement, the Academy asked Hart to apologize for his past remarks.
At first the comedian decided to stand up against the outrage.
“I passed on the apology,” he said in an Instagram video. “I’ve addressed this several times. This is not the first time this has come up. I’ve addressed it. I’ve spoken on it. I’ve said where the rights and wrongs were.”
Two days later, however, he decided to step away from the highly coveted invitation and also issued the apology he had said he was so strongly against.
“I have made the choice to step down from hosting this year’s Oscars … this is because I do not want to be a distraction on a night that should be celebrated by so many amazing talented artists,” he wrote on Twitter. “I sincerely apologize to the LGBTQ community for my insensitive words from my past.”
I have made the choice to step down from hosting this year’s Oscar’s….this is because I do not want to be a distraction on a night that should be celebrated by so many amazing talented artists. I sincerely apologize to the LGBTQ community for my insensitive words from my past.
— Kevin Hart (@KevinHart4real) December 7, 2018
I’m sorry that I hurt people.. I am evolving and want to continue to do so. My goal is to bring people together not tear us apart. Much love & appreciation to the Academy. I hope we can meet again.
— Kevin Hart (@KevinHart4real) December 7, 2018
Hart’s new Netflix documentary, “Don’t F**k This Up,” further addressed the controversy surrounding his invitation to host the Oscars last year.
“What I thought was going to blow over ended up becoming a bigger mess than I expected,” he said in the documentary that was released in late-December.
“I missed an opportunity to say simply that I don’t condone any type of violence in any way, shape or form to anyone for being who they are,” Hart added.
“I f—ed up. … Instead I said, ‘I addressed it.’ I said, ‘I apologized.’ I said, ‘I talked about this already.’ I was just immature.”
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