Getty Kevin Hart attends "Night School" Red Carpet Screening.
After it was announced on Wednesday that actor and comedian Kevin Hart would host the Academy Awards on February 24, Hart took to social media to express how honored he was to be asked. He wrote: “I am blown away simply because this has been a goal on my list for a long time…. To be able to join the legendary list of host that have graced that stage is unbelievable.” Others on social media, however, were not as excited, citing tweets from Hart’s past that they believed were homophobic in nature.
After Hart went back and deleted some of the tweets in question, he took to Instagram to share his thoughts regarding the controversy. In the video, he starts by saying “I swear, man. Our world is becoming beyond crazy.” He says he’s not going to let it get to him, before revealing that his team called him and told him “The world is upset about tweets you did years ago.” He follows that by putting his hand to his face and saying “Oh my God.”
He continues, saying “If you want to hold people in a position where they always have to justify and explain their past, then do you.” At the conclusion of the video, he tells viewers “I’m in a great place. A great, mature place where all I do is spread positivity. If you’re not doing that, you’re not on my page.”
In the caption accompanying the post, he reiterates that, writing “I work hard on a daily basis to spread positivity to all… with that being said. If u want to search my history or past and anger yourselves with what u find that is fine with me. I’m almost 40 years old and I’m in love with the man that I am becoming.”
According to The Hollywood Reporter, of the tweets causing controversy for Hart dates back to 2011. They quote the now-deleted tweet as reading “Yo if my son comes home & try’s 2 play with my daughters doll house I’m going 2 break it over his head & say n my voice ‘stop that’s gay.'” The Hollywood Reporter called the tweets a “new public relations crisis” for the Motion Picture Academy.
Even after deleting the tweets earlier in the day, Twitter had a lot to say about the comedian’s old jokes and comments. verified user Korey Kuhl posted screenshots of the “40+ left,” tagging The Academy’s Twitter account. Mark Harris, a journalist for Vulture, tweeted that “he’s an especially out-of-sync choice for a year in which Rami Malek, Melissa McCarthy, Olivia Colman, Mahershala Ali, Richard E. Grant, Emma Stone, and Rachel Weisz, and Lucas Hedges could all get nominated for playing LGBTQ characters.” He also said that the backlash Hart was receiving wasn’t “making Kevin Hart a problem. He did that.”
so @KevinHart4real deleted the homophobic tweet I pointed out yesterday but there’s still 40+ left. do people make mistakes? yep! but the question remains: what’s he done to offset the negative impact these made? apologize? activism? philanthropy? anything? 👀 @TheAcademy
Those who criticized the tweets were unsatisfied with Hart’s response. Actor and Emmy-nominated host Billy Eichner first responded to the controversay with a tweet that said “What bothers me about these is you can tells its not just a joke – there’s real truth, anger & fear behind these. I hope Kevin’s thinking has evolved since 2011.” After Hart’s instagram video response, Eichner followed up, writing “This is not good. A simple, authentic apology showing any bit of understanding or remorse would have been so simple.”