Even Ellen DeGeneres is on Kevin Hart‘s side!
The daytime TV host played peacemaker during a long heart-to-heart with Hart on her show Friday, discussing with the comedian his decision to step down from hosting the 2019 Oscars after controversial old jokes resurfaced in the public eye.
Related: This Is Why Kevin Refused To Apologize!
She even went so far as to give the actor a full hour for the discussion, as well as promote his new movie The Upside, but it’s what she said to him that is starting to get so much attention here early this morning.
First, though, Kevin opened up a great deal to Ellen, explaining for the first time how the entire controversy unfolded and how he initially reacted to it:
“There’s a lot of goals that I have on my vision board. There’s so many things I want to do I check off as they get done, and Oscars was up there. Oscars was one of the highest of highs, simply because there hasn’t been a lot of African Americans that have been able to do it; I would have been the fourth. So, to get the moment, celebrate the moment—’Oh, my God! I can’t believe it’s happen!’—and then the next morning after a day full of congratulations and celebrations, I’m hit with an onslaught on social media of my past coming back up again. Literally, the next morning! Not even a full 24 hours to glow in the glory of ‘Kevin Hart Is Hosting This Year’s Oscars.’ When it happened, my first thought is, ‘I’m going to ignore it. I’m going to ignore it because it’s 10 years old. This is stuff I’ve addressed. I’ve talked about this. This isn’t new. I’ve addressed it! I’ve apologized for it. I’m not going to pay it any mind.’ Because [when] we feed into that stuff, you only add more fuel to the fire. ‘I’m going to leave it alone.’ Another day goes by, the fuel is now growing. This fire is angry. It’s all over the place. Now, the headlines are starting to change. The headlines are ‘Kevin Hart Refuses to Apologize for Homophobic Tweets From the Past.’ The word ‘Again’ was left out. Everybody took those headlines and started to run with it. So now, the slander on my name is all homophobia. Now, I’m a little upset. I’m a little upset because I know who I am.”
And Hart continued, explaining to DeGeneres that the homophobic tweets from his past had long before been addressed, and that he’d undergone a great deal of personal growth since then:
“I know I don’t have a homophobic bone in my body. I know that I’ve addressed it. I know that I’ve apologized. I know that within my apologies I’ve taken 10 years to put my apology to work. I’ve yet to go back to that version of the immature version of the comedian that once was. I’ve moved on. I’m a grown man. I’m cultured. I’m manufactured. I’m a guy that understands now. I looked at life through a different lens, and because of that, I live it a different way. So now, I’m kind of upset because these 10 years are just being ignored. They’re being brushed past. Nobody is saying, ‘Guys, this is 10 years.’ No headlines are saying, ’10 Years Ago, He Apologized.’ Nobody’s finding the apologies. Nobody is finding the footage from where I had to address it. I had to address it when I did Get Hard promo with Will Ferrell because of my joke that I had about my son; I had to address those tweets in 2012 in a very, very heavy junket where I was asked questions and asked questions about homophobia based on those tweets; and I had to address it and apologize and say I understand what those words do and how they hurt. I understand why people would be upset, which is why I made the choice to not use them anymore. I don’t joke like that anymore because that was wrong and I was stupid. I don’t do that anymore.”
Quietly taking it all in, Ellen responded with a shocker — she’d actually already spoken to The Academy, and had been lobbying for Kevin to return as host before he even knew about it.
Related: If Not Kevin, Then Who Should Host The 2019 Oscars?!?!
She revealed more:
“I know you’re not that guy. because I know you. You called me right when it happened and said, ‘I’m going to talk to you about it. I’m not going to say anything ’til I’m on your show.’ Well, I called The Academy today, because I really want you to host the Oscars. I was so excited when I heard that they asked you. I thought it was an amazing thing and how important it was and how it was a dream. So, I called them. I said, ‘Kevin’s on. I have no idea if he wants to come back and host, but what are your thoughts?’ And they were like, ‘Oh my, God! We want him to host. We feel like maybe he misunderstood or it was handled wrong or maybe we said the wrong thing, but we want him to host.’ The Academy is saying, ‘What can we do to make this happen?’ And I’m saying to you, as one of the smartest people I know, one of the funniest people I know…what we’re going to get to see onstage with you hosting the Oscars is sophistication, class, hilarity and you growing as a person. Because most people would say, ‘I’m walking away. I’m not going back. I’m going to go back and forth.’ But for you to be the bigger man, for you to say, ‘I understand and I’m not going to pay attention?’ There are so many haters out there. Whatever is going on the internet, don’t pay attention to them. That’s a small group of people being very, very loud. We are a huge group of people who love you and want to see you host the Oscars.”
Wow!
And while Hart wasn’t so easily convinced by her begging for him to return, Ellen also made a final argument about it trying to further convince him to make the comeback:
“They’re going to win if you don’t host the Oscars. Then they win! They can’t destroy you, because you have too much talent. No one can do that. And for them to stop you from your dream, from what you wanted to do, from what you have a right to do and from what you should be doing, it’s why they haven’t found another host. I think they were secretly hoping that you would come back—and I’m praying that this happens. As I said to you earlier, I think it’s perfect that this happened, because there needs to be a conversation about homophobia. Whatever [was] brought up and whoever was trying to hurt you, it brought up you reminding people that you’re a bigger person, that you’ve already apologized. You’re apologizing again. As a gay person… I am sensitive to all of that. And I talked to you about this. And you have already expressed that it’s not being educated on the subject, not realizing how dangerous those words are, not realizing how many kids are killed for being gay or beaten up every day. You have grown. You have apologized. You are apologizing again right now. You’ve done it. Don’t let those people win. Host the Oscars.”
And in the end… Hart promised he would at least consider Ellen’s plea.
Related: Ellen Thinking About Ending Her Talk Show??
The comedian acknowledged:
“You have put a lot of things on my mind. I know where our relationship stands, so leaving here, I promise you I’m 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 have hoped that it would be. Let me assess, just to sit in this space and really think—and you and I will talk before anything else.”
Wow!!!
Quite the conversation for daytime TV… but here’s the crazy thing: Hart might actually return as host this year!
A source told People today that the Academy truly IS considering asking the comedian to return to host this year, revealing:
“There has been a steady stream of buzz that things might work out between Kevin and the Academy. The Academy never really axed him — they wanted him to apologize — he wouldn’t, and then he was the one to drop out.”
But later, when Hart did apologize anyways, it left the folks at the Academy “scratching their heads” because it’s what they had wanted him to do all along. Now that he’s gone and done it, the path to come back may well be easier.
Related: Could NOBODY Host The Oscars??
The source continued:
“Everyone has noticed that it’s not like the Academy just pivoted to someone else; Kevin is clearly well aware that the job is still wide open. But meanwhile, he has needed to do his own clean-up work in terms of his image after all of this … It’s all they ever wanted him to do [publicly apologize], and he’s doing it in spades. So now he should be able to come back on his own terms.”
Wow! That’s a pretty resounding endorsement for a comeback!
We’ll see if it actually happens, but all signs are starting to point to… it’s a definite possibility, at least?!
What do U think, Perezcious readers??? Should Kevin return to the stage and host the Oscars this year?! Sound OFF with your opinion in the comments (below)!
[Image via WENN.]
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