Comedian and actor Kevin Hart recently addressed the Oscar scandal he found himself involved in as well as the idea of destroying things you happen to not support or like.
Hart sat down with Joe Rogan on his Joe ROgan Experience podcast where he discussed the issues at length earlier this week.
Hart was open about the recent Oscars controversy he found himself. Hart was scheduled to be the host of the show, but eventually backed out after The Guardian writer Benjamin dug up 10-year-old tweets that showcased Hart making a number of gay jokes.
Hart announced that he was stepping down as the Oscars host in a tweet, where he also apologized to the LGBTQ community.
I have made the choice to step down from hosting this year’s Oscar’s….this is because I do not want to be a distraction on a night that should be celebrated by so many amazing talented artists. I sincerely apologize to the LGBTQ community for my insensitive words from my past.
— Kevin Hart (@KevinHart4real) December 7, 2018
Hart addressed the controversy with Joe Rogan.
Hart told told Rogan:
“It’s a wake up call of understanding the times. But more importantly, for me, it was, I went through it. I made sure that the people of the LGBTQ community really understand that I apologized before, but I’ll apologize again. I’m sorry. I’m not that guy, I don’t want you to think I’m that guy. Then it became the constant conservation. It became the constant conservation. And now it is ‘Guys, I’m not only sorry, I don’t condone anything that has to do with hate to anybody.’ This is no longer a conservation so guys I’m going to stop talking about it because now I feel like I’m feeding into what I’m not. I know I’m not. The world and public should understand and know that I’m not because over this time period, I’ve shown that I’m not.”
Hart would continue:
“So the apology once again, ‘I’m sorry. Genuinely, I’m sorry.’ But then it just never stopped. At that point, I’m making a decision to not talk about it anymore. That doesn’t mean that I’m being disrespectful to anybody. It doesn’t mean I’m shutting down anything. It means for me I’m going to stop talking about it because at this point I don’t know what to do. At this point, I thought the apology was what you wanted me to do, I did it. I made sure that you understand that I’m not a hateful person and I don’t condone hate, I did that. I stepped down so I don’t take attention off of that night and those people that are there to be celebrated. I don’t want to draw attention to myself and what’s around me. I stepped down. Everything I did was for the better of good. I’m stepping away guys because I don’t want this to be negative night or a negative thing.”
Hart would add indicate he went on his radio show and apologized again and once again said that he condemned hate. Hart would then recount a conversation with Empire producer Lee Daniels where he asked him to become an ally to the LGBTQ community to draw attention to crimes against the community.
Hart would state, “Become an ally. Become a voice. And that’s where there was a miscommunication. That’s where a back and forth was established that I think people just started to take things and run with it. I’m not one to feed into what I feel isn’t going to eventually evolve into a positive thing.”
Hart would also discuss his older jokes and the thought process behind them.
https://youtu.be/2lpWepJEwSk
Hart stated:
“I just thought it would be funny…Comedians are constantly throwing s*** out there. You are constantly rolling the dice and throwing s*** out there. Half the s*** you roll ain’t good. It’s not gonna be good…It’s all with the intent of entertaining. It’s not with the intent of being malicious. It’s not with the intent of sparking hatred. It’s all trying to make you laugh. That’s it. It’s literally that simple…”They kept trying to look for this hard definition of ‘why.’ And it’s like, I don’t have it. I don’t have the reason why. I thought it would be funny and it wasn’t. That’s the downfall.”
Hart would also talk about how you learn from your mistakes:
“You are going to do things, you are going to make mistakes. You are going to f*** up. You are supposed to learn, and then move forward with the understanding of what not to do. And when you move forward life may get better it may not. But somewhere along the lines it’s going to click and everything I went through back here was supposed to happen so that now that I’m here, I’m able to go ahead with such a high level of knowledge that I can make other people, I can make myself better, I can do more for my family. Something happens.”
While discussing his Dad, Hart would add, “You can’t go back and redo. You can’t try and keep going backwards.”
Hart would also discuss the apparent culture that aims to destroy comedians by dragging their standups into the court of public opinion.
“I think it’s easier to just say ‘I’m not a fan. That comedy isn’t for me. … You know what, I don’t like the taste of this particular comedian, so I’m not going to support or watch that comedian. I’m going to find another comedian that’s more to my liking. I’m going to go and just turn my head.’ I want us to get back to understanding that you just don’t have to support it. That’s it.”
He would conclude stating: “I don’t understand why there’s a push to destroy when you just don’t have to support or like.”
There are many other well known controversial comedians such as Anthoney Jeselnik and Lisa Lampanelli who have a history of creating comedy through controversial material. So if Hart is correct, it seems that they might be one Tweet away from digital pitchforks.
What do you make of Kevin Hart’s comments? Do you agree with him or disagree? Are there certain points you happen to agree with and others you disagree with?