Kevin Hart responds to backlash surrounding Oscars gig after old homophobic tweets surface
Kevin Hart knows some people are upset over Tuesday’s announcement that he will host the 2019 Oscars — and he thinks they need to get over it. Backlash over Hart’s gig ensued when an old joke about not wanting a gay son resurfaced online. Then, homophobic tweets between 2009 and 2011 were unearthed, sparking outrage.
“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,'” he wrote in one message. In another from 2010, he tweeted that someone’s profile pic looks “like a gay bill board for AIDS.” He also used the derogatory term “fag” on another occasion.
In an Instagram video posted Thursday, Hart responded to the criticism — although he didn’t exactly apologize. Instead, the comedian slammed the “craziness,” while insisting he has grown and evolved in the past eight years.
“I swear man, our world is becoming beyond crazy. I’m not gonna let the craziness frustrate me or anger me, especially when I’ve worked hard to get to the mental space that I am at now,” Hart, who is lying shirtless in bed, begins. “My team calls me, ‘Oh my God, Kevin, the world is upset about tweets you did years ago. Oh my God.'”
He continued, “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. If you’re not doing that, you’re not on my page.”
Hart responded in length in his caption as well.
“If u want to search my history or past and anger yourselves with what u find that is fine with me,” he writes. “I LOVE EVERYBODY…..ONCE AGAIN EVERYBODY. If you choose to not believe me then that’s on you….Have a beautiful day.”
A post shared by Kevin Hart (@kevinhart4real) on Dec 6, 2018 at 3:20pm PST
The Jumanji star has spoken about that 2010 gay joke before. In an interview last year, he told Parade, “I had one gay joke in my career and it was about my son at a birthday party, and it was before things got as P.C. as they are now.” As for the backlash he said, “I get it… At the end of the day, people are people, attacking is attacking.”
Meanwhile, Hart (or someone from his team) has had a busy 24 hours deleting his past homophobic tweets.
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