Kevin Hart probably wished to silence the backlash by appearing on The Ellen DeGeneres Show this week . In a segment that aired Friday, DeGeneres spoke to the embattled comedian about his decision to step away from hosting the 2019 Oscars. Hart had removed himself after a series of homophobic tweets from 2008 - 2009 resurfaced. On Ellen, DeGeneres said that she still wanted Hart to host, and that she'd called the Academy to see if they would reconsider. In turn, Hart said that he was "assessing" his decision to not host