Kevin Hart Will Not Host the Oscars. But He Still Doesn't Get It.
The embattled comedian is not the one to say this conversation is over.
By Matt Miller
Kevin Hart went on Good Morning America today to confirm that he will not host the Oscars. That's the good news.
The bad news is the embattled comedian still doesn't get this situation. During the interview, after being asked about the hosting gig, he repeated multiple times that he's "over it."
"There's no more conversation about it ... I'm over that, I'm over the moment," he told Michael Strahan.
When asked if he would host the Oscars, Hart simply said "no" and that there wasn't enough time to prepare. The Academy will likely move forward with no host this year, as Deadline has reported.
Kevin Hart Is Not the Victim of His Controversy
In the weeks since Hart resigned as host of the Oscars after his past homophobic tweets and jokes resurfaced online, the comedian has proven repeatedly that he doesn't fully grasp the situation he's found himself in. After initially refusing to apologize, Hart began to position himself as the victim in this controversy—a stance he brought to his interview with Ellen DeGeneres late last week. During that conversation, DeGeneres absolved Hart of his past indiscretions, while framing those hurt by his homophobic comments as "haters."
Now, after pushback for that interview, Hart made a new apology during his radio show on Monday.
"Once again, Kevin Hart apologizes for his remarks that hurt members of the LGBTQ community. I apologize," he said on his show. "We thought it was OK to talk like that, because that's how we talked to one another ... This is wrong now. Because now we're in a space where I'm around people of the LGBTQ community, and I'm now aware of how these words make them feel, and why they say, 'That s--- hurt because of what I've been through.'"
His tone, however, changed this morning on Good Morning America, where he attempted to put an end to the conversation.
"I'm not giving no more explanation of who I am," Hart said. "I'm just done… If you didn't hear, I don't know what you're looking for. I'm a good person, I love to love; if you don't see that, then it's a problem with you."
The problem here is Hart is not the one to put this controversy to bed. There's a much bigger conversation to be had about how comedians confront their pasts in a society that has changed in the last decade—and specifically since the beginning of the #MeToo movement. He is not the first and certainly not the last comedian who will be forced face the horrible shit he's said. And it doesn't matter if he has to suffer through dealing with the fallout of his own actions, because that's a small price to pay in comparison to the people he hurt with his words.
Matt Miller Culture Editor Matt is the Culture Editor at Esquire where he covers music, movies, books, and TV—with an emphasis on all things Star Wars, Marvel, and Game of Thrones.
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