December 7, 2018 (LifeSiteNews) – Comedian Kevin Hart has withdrawn as the host for the 91st annual Academy Awards next year, just days after announcing the job and just hours after refusing to apologize for old jokes and comments about homosexuality.
Calling it the “opportunity of a lifetime,” the celebrity announced Tuesday that he had been selected to host the film industry’s top award ceremony. Soon after, however, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences reportedly demanded that he apologize for a series of comments from almost a decade ago.
During a 2010 comedy special, he said, “as a heterosexual male, if I can prevent my son from being gay, I will.” Hart’s Twitter account also contained a number of jokes using “gay” as a pejorative, as well as calling someone a “fat faced f*g” at one point.
The comments were already public knowledge, and in 2015 he told Rolling Stone the joke was more about his own insecurities than about his hypothetical son. “I wouldn’t tell that joke today, because when I said it, the times weren’t as sensitive as they are now,” he said. “I think we love to make big deals out of things that aren’t necessarily big deals, because we can.”
Hart initially responded to this week’s outrage in a similar vein, posting a series of Instagram videos in which he advised people to “stop searching for reasons to be negative (…) If you want to hold people in a position where they always have to justify or explain their past, than do you. I'm the wrong guy.”
“I passed on the apology. The reason why I passed is because I’ve addressed this several times,” Hart explained. “I’m not going to continue to go back and tap into the days of old, when I’ve moved on and I’m in a completely different space in my life. The same energy that went into finding those old tweets could be the same energy put into finding the response to the questions that have been asked years after years after years. We’re feeding the internet trolls and we reward them. I’m not going to do it, man. I’m going to be me and stand my ground.”
A few hours later, however, Hart tweeted that he was standing down after all, going so far as to offer a new apology and a promise of further “evolution” to appease pro-LGBT activists.
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
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.
— Kevin Hart (@KevinHart4real) December 7, 2018
Most of the replies to his surrender pushed back against the notion that he should have stepped down, however:
Christ, every other Hollywood liberal gets to hide behind their comments by saying it's comedy. Why can't you? Toughen up, buttercup.
— Rusty Weiss ������ (@rustyweiss74) December 7, 2018
This ain’t about people being hurt, this is about power and control. Nobody was hurt by your joke, they just used your tweet to flex the power we have given them by attempting to control you. I’m pretty sure there’s a lot more people hurting rn after seeing you bow down to them.
— Ron Lamar (@ronlamar7) December 7, 2018
I agree! I was only going to watch for him and now I have zero interest again. Going to make it three years without watching now. he was going to be the change we needed where politics wouldn’t be discussed the whole time.
— TheGodSwitch (@TheGodSwitch) December 7, 2018
The world is moving in a bad direction, where people have to be afraid of what might offend some new-fangled SJW group 10-50 years down the line & police themselves for who-knows-what words to avoid arrest later.
Soon it will be “nut” because it offends people w/allergies.— Results May Vary (@Vyxri) December 7, 2018
Wow! can’t believe this AMAZING country (hands down) is kowtowing 2 #SJW ‘s & #leftistpropaganda
Wake up ppl, the #leftists will never b satisfied
It’s spoiled brat mentality. Never grateful, just more no matter what!
Bad choice, #KevinHart ! Stand your ground! @LPNational #1A pic.twitter.com/CwrUL3FvFa— J Crawford (@Brillian_76) December 7, 2018
At The Federalist, Emily Jashinsky lamented that Hart’s capitulation squandered a chance for rare, viable pushback to the political correctness dominating Hollywood.
“Hart has by all accounts shifted right along with society” on homosexuality, she wrote. “But nothing is ever good enough. That’s exactly why he should have stood his ground and refused to resign or apologize.”
“His star power would have been better exerted standing fast against the trolls than caving to the insatiable wokeness police. Indeed, given Hart’s influence, and the magnitude of the Oscars platform, this particular conflict represented a big opportunity to diminish the power of the trolls he rightfully disdains,” Jashinsky argued. “Instead, Hart chose to feed them.”