Kevin Hart has stepped down as the host of the 2019 Academy Awards, just one day after taking the gig. Hart made the announcement Thursday night on Twitter, finally apologizing for anti-gay and -trans comments that resurfaced after he was confirmed as Oscars host.
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.
After seeing this @benfraserlee tweet, I did a search for every time Kevin Hart tweeted “fag,” “homo,” or “gay.” It was…a lot. And he seems to have basically stopped tweeting those words after 2011 — i.e. the year his first stand-up movie became a hit. https://t.co/P8nTOilFgxpic.twitter.com/6uzPhnvt4F
On Thursday, the comedian posted two Instagram videos in response to the criticism, acknowledging that he had changed since those tweets but declining to outright apologize for them.
“My team calls me, ‘Oh my God, Kevin, this world is upset about tweets you did years ago,” he says in the first of two videos. “Guys. I’m almost 40 years old. If you don’t believe that people change, grow, evolve as they get older, I don’t know what to tell you.”
In the second video, Hart shares that he chose not to apologize, even after the Academy issued an ultimatum. “I chose to pass, I passed on the apology,” he says, after explaining how the Academy called to say that they would be moving on to a new host unless he issued an apology for his past tweets.
“The reason why I passed is because 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, I’ve said who I am now versus who I was then. I’ve done it,” he explained.
Hart was more apologetic in the tweet following the one in which he stepped down as Oscars host, although another tweet from this morning suggests that he still isn’t backing down after the debacle.
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.
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.
This isn’t the first time this year that ABC, which is airing the 91st Academy Awards in February 2019, has faced a high-profile Twitter controversy. This summer, ABC canceled Roseanne after a racist tweet by star Roseanne Barr about Valerie Jarrett, and parent company Disney also fired James Gunn from Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 3 after controversial tweets resurfaced in which the director made light of rape and pedophilia.
Late last month, Hart also faced social media controversy after hosting a “Cowboys & Indians” birthday party for his one-year-old son, Kenzo, on Thanksgiving, firing back at critics on his SiriusXM show, Straight from the Hart.
“This isn’t a racial slur that people are doing and being malicious with. This is a game that’s been played for years,” Hart said in response to criticisms of the party theme.
In the wake of the Hart kerfuffle, the Academy Awards still don’t have a host for next year, although some on Twitter have shared their thoughts on who should take the job:
Will Smith could host the Oscars from his Instagram.
The Oscars host should be a different woman for each section like the 2002 Actors’ Fund Funny Girl concert and they should include that analogy in the press release as a gay olive branch
