At the beginning of the week, no one knew who was going to host the Oscars. On Wednesday we found out it was Kevin Hart, which seemed like a no-brainer. Now as of late last night, Hart has stepped down as host. Life is weird like that, and Hart made the announcement today that he would be stepping down as host after he refused to meet a demand from the Academy after past homophobic jokes and tweets he made resurfaced.
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Just one day after his hosting duties were announced – to which the Academy was met with a wave of backlash – Hart took to Instagram to send out a message where he revealed the Academy called him to give him an ultimatum: Apologize or don’t host.
I just got a call from the Academy and that call basically said, ‘Kevin, apologize for your tweets of old or we’re going to have to move on and find another host.’ I’m talking about the tweets from 2009 and 2010. I chose to pass on the apology. The reason why I passed is because I’ve addressed this several times. This is not the first time this has come up. I’ve addressed it. I’ve spoken on it. I’ve said where the rights and wrongs were. I’ve said who I am now versus who I was then. I’ve done it. I’ve done it. 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 feed the internet trolls and we reward them. I’m not going to do it, man. I’m going to be me. I’m going to stand my ground. Regardless, Academy, I’m thankful and appreciative of the opportunity. If it goes away, no harm, no foul.
Earlier in the day, he posted a video saying, “I swear, man, our world is becoming beyond crazy. I'm not going to let the craziness frustrate me or anger me, especially when I worked hard to get to the mental space that I am at now. My team calls me, 'Oh, my God, Kevin, this world is upset about tweets you did years ago. 'Guys. I'm almost 40 years old. If you don't believe that people change, grow, evolve as they get older, I don't know what to tell you. If you want to hold people in a position where they always have to justify or explain their past, then do you. I'm the wrong guy, man. I'm in a great place, a great mature place, where all I do is spread positivity."
Backlash over Hart’s hiring began after past, homophobic jokes of his began to resurface, some around Hart’s fears over the idea of his son being gay. One now-deleted tweet (via THR) read, “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.'" Several more tweets like this were soon deleted after they resurfaced across the internet.
Hart spoke to Rolling Stone in 2015 about jokes he made in a 2011 stand-up special about his fears over his son “growing up and being gay.” He talked about how it all stemmed from his own insecurities, saying, “The funny thing within that joke is it’s me getting mad at my son because of my own insecurities — I panicked. It has nothing to do with him, it’s about me. That’s the difference between bringing a joke across that’s well thought-out and saying something just to ruffle feathers.”
Around the time of his announcement that he would be stepping down, Hart continued to post about it on Twitter and even ended up making an apology as the Academy wanted.
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This fallout comes at a tricky time for the Academy, as reports have been swirling that they had been struggling to find a host before they hired Hart. On paper, he was a perfect candidate. He had been wanting to do it for years, seeing it as the next big step in his career. He has starred in tons of hit movies that have made well over a billion dollars around the world, and he has tens of millions of followers around social media. He’s the most popular comedian around, to boot, and all of it together makes him a logical choice to host. Now with less time on the clock than before, they have to find a new host, a gig that’s apparently tougher to sell now than it has in the past.