It’s been a whirlwind of a 24 hours for Kevin Hart’s Oscars role. If you missed it, the Cliffs Notes version is that shortly after he was announced as host for the 2019 awards show, Hart began deleting old, extremely homophobic tweets, which people were using to express disappointment over the decision to hire him in the first place.
He took to Instagram to offer a truly terrible response, saying those people were “looking for reasons to be negative” and “angry,” rather than believing that people could have a genuine problem with the homophobia he spent years spewing both on Twitter and on stage. The Academy asked him to apologize, he refused, and he stepped down as host, while … offering up an apology.
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
Sarah Kate Ellis, the CEO & President of GLAAD, told CNN she was surprised by Hart’s decision to step down. The tweet screencap/backlash/firing routine has become a common pattern lately, and that’s how Hart seems to have viewed what happened, reducing it to the acts of “internet trolls.”
But this, Ellis says, “wasn’t the conclusion I think everyone would have liked.” Instead, she says, “We were hoping this was going to turn into a teachable moment,” she said, “that Kevin Hart would still be hosting the Oscars and he would be using this moment to show, not only his evolution around the LGBTQ community, but also to then use the Oscar stage…to help build unity and awareness around the LGBTQ community and how we are marginalized in this country.”
In an official follow-up statement, Ellis said that “Kevin Hart shouldn’t have stepped down; he should have stepped up.”
She continued, “Hart’s apology to LGBTQ people is an important step forward, but he missed a real opportunity to use his platform and the Oscars stage to build unity and awareness. We would still welcome that conversation with him. The Academy has recently made significant strides in featuring diverse talent onstage and they should now double down on that commitment as they look for a new host.”
It would have been wonderful if Hart had “stepped up” and “built unity” but honestly, I don’t think he was ever going to have that in him. The apology he issued was very well-crafted, and that’s not nothing. But it’s pretty clear it was worded by PR professionals, not him. Again, I appreciate him offering it. But when it comes to his words, I don’t believe he really understands why people are upset.
In fact, he seems to view himself as some sort of persecuted hero.
The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy. Martin Luther King, Jr.
— Kevin Hart (@KevinHart4real) December 7, 2018
Hart spent years casually and frequently spewing terrible homophobic slurs, and beyond that, he had full stand-up bits about his fear of being gay and his fear of his son being gay, going as far as to joke about assaulting his son if he were gay. To dismiss people for being upset over those things as “trolling” and faux outrage means that he still really doesn’t understand why his words and his messages were so hurtful.
And there it is. Quite a day. When the history of this is written–tomorrow–don’t believe anything that cites trolls or “political correctness” or a “mob.” This was human beings, standing up for themselves and/or those they care about. https://t.co/PPHB0vUGjo
— Mark Harris (@MarkHarrisNYC) December 7, 2018
Also, to say that people had to go “looking for reasons to be angry” presumes that people didn’t remember when he said these things in the first place. Why would we have forgotten?
We should stop referring to digging up tweets or ferreting them out or unearthing them. Twitter-searching “Kevin Hart gay” didn’t take a masters in forensics or an earth-moving machine. His jokes were not a secret. LGBT people knew to look. Everything here is public forever.
— Mark Harris (@MarkHarrisNYC) December 7, 2018
And as Billy Eichner so perfectly put it, this isn’t a matter of bad jokes; Hart’s framing of his homophobia was deeply-rooted, and it was the foundation for a lot of his bits, not just a misguided punchline.
Many of us have jokes/tweets we regret. I’m ok with tasteless jokes, depending on context. What bothers me about these is you can tell its not just a joke-there’s real truth, anger & fear behind these. I hope Kevin’s thinking has evolved since 2011. 🌈 https://t.co/U1YgnCyByt
— billy eichner (@billyeichner) December 6, 2018
Best case scenario could have been that Kevin Hart brought in a super diverse team of writers–all big awards show hosts have writing teams anyway, and he could have expanded his team to include unique voices–to create that “teachable moment” through empathy and humor.
But on the other hand, for whom is that the “best case”? Kevin Hart? Realistically, no one is entitled to a position like this, and many of the people calling him out for his horrible tweets and comments were making the point that perhaps Hart didn’t deserve this job in the first place.
(via Deadline, image: Phillip Faraone/Getty Images for The Wall Street Journal and WSJ. Magazine)
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