Oscars Hosting: Kevin Hart Explains Why He Stepped Down

Some few weeks ago, Kevin Hart found himself in the eye of the storm after he was dragged by many for some homophobic tweets he sent out in 2011, causing him to step down as the host of 2019 Oscars.

In his first interview since giving up his Oscars hosting gig, the comedian and actor has explained why he decided to step down in December 2018.

He opened up during an interview with Ellen DeGeneres today, January 4.  Hart explained that he didn’t address the old tweets at first because he had already apologised for them after he first wrote them, but when media headlines started becoming about his “refusal” to issue an apology, he knew he had to step down.

“It’s now becoming a cloud,” he explained. “It was once the brightest star and the brightest light ever, and it just got real dark. The Oscars is no longer about Kevin Hart on that stage and taking an intense night and making it loose and fun. Now, it’s a little darker, because the conversation isn’t about me hosting the Oscars, it’s about Kevin Hart’s tweet from ten years ago and homophobia. I don’t want to make that night about me and my past when you have people who worked hard and stepped on that stage and received an award. I’m taking away from those moments because the night is focused on something else now. Because I saw it like that, I would much rather step down and apologise again.”

Ellen who has been a longtime pal of Hart was completely understanding of his apology and told him she is disappointed he’s no longer hosting the show. She also revealed that he called the Academy to ask them if they would still have Hart,

“I said…Kevin’s on, and I have no idea if he wants to come back and host, but what are your thoughts?” she revealed. “They were like…oh my God, we want him to host! We think maybe he misunderstood or it was handled wrong, but we want him to host, so whatever you can do, we’d be thrilled.”

Obviously touched by her gesture, Hart was, however, not willing to give a definite answer just yet.  He said,

“You have said a lot of amazing things,” he admitted. “You’ve put a lot of amazing things in my mind because I know where our relationship stands. So I’m leaving here evaluating this conversation. This is a conversation I needed to have. I’m glad that I had it here and I’m glad that it was as authentic and real as I could’ve hoped. So let me assess. Let me just sit in the space and really think, and you and I will talk before anything else.”

It is noteworthy that Hart was originally scheduled to chat about his upcoming film “The Upside” before he ended up talking about the Oscars incident instead for the entire hour.