Kevin Hart officially ended discussion about him hosting the 2019 Academy Awards on Wednesday, telling “Good Morning America” that he was “over” the negative attention surrounding his old homophobic tweets and wanted to move on.
“There is no ending to it. If you keep feeding this energy, then it’s going to grow. You’re not getting no more of my energy from it. I’m not giving no more, because it’s endless,” Hart told host Michael Strahan. “I want everybody to know I’m done with it. It’s a choice that I’ve personally made to say I’m not addressing it anymore.”
“I’m over it,” he said repeatedly.
His response came when Strahan asked: “Is there a hope that you would host the Oscars this year?”
“No, I’m not hosting the Oscars this year,” Hart replied without hesitation. “The Academy, they’re amazing people, the offer was made, it was received, I was excited this happened, it didn’t work out the way it should have. Right now from a time perspective, I don’t really have time.”
Hart was dropped by the Oscars after multiple old tweets emerged showing his previous use of homophobic slurs. Hart fanned the flames when critics said an initial apology offered was insufficiently contrite. His image has rebounded somewhat with sympathetic appearances on “Ellen,” though he has continued to face backlash, including from CNN anchor Don Lemon, who said it was not Degeneres’ place to forgive Hart.
“For many in the gay community but especially in the black community,” Lemon said, “the Twitter apologies and explanations on ‘Ellen’ have fallen flat … To many it seems he has somehow turned himself a victim, instead of acknowledging the real victims of violent and sometimes deadly homophobia.”