Ellen DeGeneres has sparked heated debate within the LGBTIQ community after she urged Kevin Hart return to the job of hosting next month’s Oscars ceremony after he stepped down over past homophobic tweets.
The comedian and actor was last month named as host of February’s Academy Awards ceremony but pulled out days later after a series of homophobic tweets he’d posted from 2009 to 2012 emerged.
In a controversial interview for DeGeneres’s talk show, Hart reiterated his apology for the tweets but has been criticised for claiming the resurfacing of the comments “wasn’t a coincidence,” but instead a “malicious attack on my character” one day after his announcement as Oscars host.
DeGeneres urged Hart to return as Oscars host but she was slammed for dismissing Hart’s critics as “trolls,” “haters” and “a small group of people [on the Internet] being very, very loud.”
“Somebody has to take stand against the quote-unquote trolls… They’re going to win if you don’t host the Oscars,” she said.
Homophobic tweets by Hart that emerged included calling someone a “fat faced fag” and comparing a profile picture to a “gay bill board for AIDS”.
Hart also tweeted, “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.'”
Tre’Vell Anderson, entertainment director at LGBTIQ publication Out, wrote in an op-ed that Kevin Hart’s response in the Ellen interview showed he has “a lot more growing to do” and the talk show host “doesn’t speak for me”.
“As a Black queer someone who, when my body began to manifest aspects of my identity—a sway in my walk, a bend in my wrist—was punched in the chest by Black men in my family, Ellen can’t and doesn’t speak for me,” Anderson wrote.
“Hart is one of the most recognizable Black faces in pop culture and that’s why he should especially seek forgiveness from Black queer folks in addition to his broader appeals, something DeGeneres can’t grant.”
Journalist and activist George M Johnson explained in a viral Twitter video, “Ellen this really wasn’t your place to offer forgiveness because you weren’t harmed in all of this, black LGBTQ people were harmed in this situation.
“So to allow Kevin Hart to come on your show, basically speak for six minutes straight, uninterrupted, where you don’t challenge him on any of the things he’s said, is just a disservice and more of what black LGBTQ people have experienced from white LGBTQ people, who continue to absorb cis hetero people when they harm our community in particular.
“Where were you allowing the space for those who were harmed to come on your show and talk about it?”
The 91st Academy Awards will be held on February 24, and no replacement host has been announced since Hart stepped down.
As a Black queer someone who, when my body began to manifest aspects of my identity even I was unaware of was punched in the chest by Black men in my family and told to “man up,” Ellen can’t and doesn’t speak for me. #KevinHart https://t.co/biFbhtGTdm
— Tre’vell Anderson (@TrevellAnderson) January 4, 2019
My thoughts on Ellen and this absolving of Kevin Hart. pic.twitter.com/tn7Amh6oDv
— George M Johnson (@IamGMJohnson) January 4, 2019
“What does Kevin Hart have to do to please you people?”
It’s not hard. He has to talk about LGBT people as something other than A) people who are trying to take something from him or B) a code he has to crack to get what he wants. Expressing empathy isn’t hard–if you feel it. >— Mark Harris (@MarkHarrisNYC) January 4, 2019
I want Hart to talk about what his repeated expressions of revulsion and fear at the prospect of having a gay child, and about his understanding of what gay people, and gay children, hear in that. No bland bromides about “I’m all about positivity and love.” A true accounting. >
— Mark Harris (@MarkHarrisNYC) January 4, 2019
The Kevin Hart story reminds me that being LGBT and insisting on decent treatment means constantly being told you’re shrill, you’re a hater, you’re a mob, get a sense of humor, lighten up, get over it, move on, don’t be so strident. It all means the same thing: Watch yourself.
— Mark Harris (@MarkHarrisNYC) January 4, 2019
I feel like if you’re not homophobic anymore, you shouldn’t mind apologizing for your past homophobia again and again and again. I don’t want to hear a hostile retelling of how we didn’t hear your meager apology the first time.
— Louis Virtel (@louisvirtel) January 4, 2019
I also believe in forgiveness. But I also believe that forgiveness requires an actual apology. Not “I’m sorry people are so sensitive.” Just “I am sorry.” All he had to do. And he indignantly refused because he felt his moment was being tainted. That he was the aggrieved.
— Eamon Paton-Usry (@Eamon2Please) January 4, 2019
The only thing @KevinHart4real proved by going on Ellen was that he is a terrible actor with zero genuine remorse who didn’t have the decency to address his ignorance. No, they weren’t “haters” who came after you. It was the LGBTQI+ community because we’re sick to shit of it.
— Harry Cook (@HarryCook) January 4, 2019
Ellen giving homophobes the ability to say “but Ellen said it’s okay” is a massive fucking betrayal.
I don’t care how many sitcoms you lost in the 90s.
— Happy Houlidays (@RyanHoulihan) January 4, 2019
Hart: “My first thought was I’m going to ignore it. I’m going to ignore it, because it is 10 years old. And this is stuff that I have addressed. I’ve talked about this.”
This implies you previously apologized for this. That’s not true.
— David Mack (@davidmackau) January 4, 2019
3 years ago, when asked about past anti-gay comments, you explicitly told Rolling Stone you would “never apologize” for your tweets.https://t.co/Ma8iQRSBLH
— David Mack (@davidmackau) January 4, 2019
In fact, you explicitly defended jokes about fearing your son might be gay.
“It’s about my fear. I’m thinking about what I did as a dad, did I do something wrong, and if I did, what was it?” https://t.co/426FuF4abA
— David Mack (@davidmackau) January 4, 2019
You did tell Rolling Stone in 2015 that you wouldn’t tell that same jokes again, not because you’d evolved, but because when you said it in 2010 “the times weren’t as sensitive as they are now” https://t.co/Ma8iQRSBLH
— David Mack (@davidmackau) January 4, 2019
(6) Finally, it’s depressing that Ellen’s enthusiasm for Hart hosting the Oscars — and he would’ve been a good host! — led her to contribute to a narrative that Hart is the victim of “haters” & “trolls” out to “destroy” him, & if he doesn’t host the Oscars, they’ll “win.” Well…
— Adam B. Vary (@adambvary) January 4, 2019
(7) …if @TheAcademy wants to hire Hart back after he made the simple act of apologizing for hurtful, harmful, anti-gay language into a vicious conspiracy to ruin his entire life, I’m not sure who “wins” in that scenario, either. (END)
— Adam B. Vary (@adambvary) January 4, 2019
