Kevin Hart Would Only Appear at the Oscars Under 1 Condition
The academy awards has seen plenty of comedians like Amy Schumer and Chris Rock host its prestigious ceremony. At one point, Kevin Hart was supposed to be yet another comic putting on a show for fans and stars alike. But after his famous Oscar controversy, Hart felt he’d only end up at the event under one condition.
Kevin Hart didn’t see himself hosting the Oscars after controversy
Hart was all set to host the 2019 Academy Awards, which was a lifelong dream of his. But he’d never get the opportunity to take the stage after old posts he made on X, formerly Twitter, were dug up. Hart’s past comments were full of homophobic jokes Hart made during his younger days as a comic. And although he asserted he meant no harm back then, the Academy told Hart he couldn’t host the Oscars unless he apologized for his remarks. However, Hart instead chose to step down from the gig voluntarily.
“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,” he once wrote on social media according to Variety. “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 and appreciation to the Academy. I hope we can meet again.”
While speaking on The Ellen Show with talk show host Ellen DeGeneres, Hart revisited the controversy again with his fellow comedian. DeGeneres, who’d already hosted the Oscars twice, felt that Hart should reconsider his stance on the award ceremony. At the time, Hart seemed open enough to the suggestion. But he confided that there was most likely only one other way for him to appear on the Oscars stage. And it wasn’t as a host.
“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.”
Kevin Hart felt the Oscars wasn’t a good gig for comedians
Several years after Hart’s Oscar controversy, it seems that the Central Intelligence star stuck by his word. Hart hasn’t even been mentioned as a potential host for the Oscars ceremony in recent years. But Hart might be more than okay with never hosting, questioning if the Oscars were even a good fit for comics.
“I think they got it right one year where it was like just a bunch of personalities acting as the hosts and that’s a nice thing,” he told Sky News (via New York Post). “It’s a collaborative thing, different people get to be responsible for act one, act two, act three, but you know, the days of it being a room for a comic, those days are done.”
At the same time, Hart acknowledged and admired other comedians who were able to adapt to the Academy’s style.
“Shout out to those that have cracked the code and done it right early on, you know, the Chris Rocks of the world, the Billy Crystals of the world, the girls we’ve had like Tina Fey, Amy Poehler. Ricky Gervais,” Hart said. “There’s a lot of people that understand that if you’re not an industry comic, meaning a comic that has the relationships of all, then those rooms are very cold … It’s not the gig that it was of old. It’s too much pressure on the idea of a comic and what’s jokes and not jokes. So, it’s tough.”
Given his response, it seems that Hart might be even less likely to host the Oscars than he was years before.
