Yahoo Movies Ellen DeGeneres faces backlash for 'defending' Kevin Hart following homophobia furore
Ellen DeGeneres brought forward the air date for an ‘incredible and honest’ interview with comedian and ex-Oscars host Kevin Hart, which has just aired the US.
Tweeting last night, she said: “I had an incredible and honest conversation with @KevinHart4real about hosting the #Oscars. It was supposed to air on Monday. I don’t want you to have to wait, so now it’s gonna air tomorrow.”
But she may wish that she hadn’t.
Hart withdrew from the job of hosting the 91st Oscars in December, less than 48 hours after being announced, after facing fierce criticism when old footage of him performing a homophobic skit about hoping his son never grows up to be gay was re-posted online.
Now the talk show host is facing her own backlash for defending him during the interview, in which she encourages him to take up the presenting slot again.
“As a gay person. I am sensitive to all of that. You’ve already expressed that it’s not being educated on the subject, not realising how dangerous those words are, not realising how many kids are killed for being gay or beaten up every day,” says DeGeneres.
“You have grown, you have apologised, you are apologising again right now. You’ve done it. Don’t let those people win — host the Oscars.”
But many are angry that she appears to have let Hart off the hook, despite the homophobic gags, which were made during a comedy special made in 2010.
I believe in forgiveness. I believe in second chances. And I believe in @KevinHart4real. pic.twitter.com/oJxfGXhU4P
— Ellen DeGeneres (@TheEllenShow) January 4, 2019
In the interview Hart says that he’s previously apologised for the comments, and that’s not who he is anymore, but as a result, the backlash against him took the shine off the Oscars job.
He also says that now that DeGeneres has backed him, he’s ‘evaluating’ taking up the job again.
It’s not gone down well.
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
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
I love that Ellen has decided for all queer men that we’re actually okay with what Kevin Hart said because she knows him personally and he’s nice.
Oh,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, okay.
— Happy Houlidays (@RyanHoulihan) January 4, 2019
Also, Kevin Hart's thesis in this Ellen interview is, "People ruined my fun and I got upset people ruined my fun and I might have behaved better except people ruined MY FUN on a day that was supposed to be about me." And this is the MATURE version of Kevin Hart.
— Daniel Fienberg (@TheFienPrint) January 4, 2019
(1) First, the people who brought up Kevin Hart's past tweets — like me — were not, as Ellen characterized, "haters." The host of the Oscars had made anti-gay jokes, and LGBT people who love the Oscars were legitimately startled to see just how harsh his words were. It wasn't a…
— Adam B. Vary (@adambvary) January 4, 2019
(2) …mob of people out to get Kevin Hart. It was a group of people who wanted to understand Hart's thinking about those hurtful tweets & his stand-up jokes.
Second, in his Ellen interview, Hart referenced apologizing for his past during the GET HARD junket. Well…
— Adam B. Vary (@adambvary) January 4, 2019
(3) …when @louisvirtel asked Hart about the vaguely homophobic jokes in GET HARD, like Hart affecting an effeminate voice to evoke fear of prison rape, Hart's response was, "Funny is funny." That may be a legit perspective; it isn't an apology. https://t.co/z92Bslbdhr
— Adam B. Vary (@adambvary) January 4, 2019
@andylassner Wow, #Ellen, very disappointed. I was really hoping this was a rumour. After all these years and after all the good you've done, you choose to support someone so blatantly homophobic it's scary. #EllenDeGeneres #KevinHart
— Jared (@jared_dias) January 4, 2019
me unfollowing ellen after she defended kevin hart and his bs pic.twitter.com/DmZCFd2Mp0
— enjay🍂 (@enjaytime) January 4, 2019
In the skit, he says: “Keep in mind, I’m not homophobic. I have nothing against gay people. Be happy. Do what you want to do. But me, as a heterosexual male, if I can prevent my son from being gay, I will.”
The joke then develops further about him being horrified when his three-year-old son has a ‘gay moment’ with another boy at a party.
He’s apologised since the jokes, telling Rolling Stone in 2015 that it spoke of his ‘own insecurities’ and that he ‘wouldn’t tell that joke today, because when I said it, the times weren’t as sensitive as they are now’.
The ceremony, which is currently without a host, happens on 25 February.
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