Kevin Hart has admitted that he may reconsider resuming his role as this year’s Oscars host.
The comedian stepped down from the role, after a string of old homophobic tweets were questioned once again – which lead to the Academy giving him an ultimatum to apologise or step down.
The 39-year-old decided to step down as he felt like he had apologised for his comments enough in the past, and he has since opened up about his decision for the first time on ‘The Ellen Show’.
He told Ellen, “My first thought is I’m going to ignore it. I’m going to ignore it because it’s 10 years old. This is stuff I’ve addressed. I’ve talked about this. This isn’t new, I’m not going to pay it any mind because if you feed into that stuff, you only feed into the fire.”
Kevin continued to explain how he has changed since the comments were made, “I’ve yet to go back to that version of the immature comedian that once was. I moved on. I’m a grown man, I’m cultured.”
“I understand what those words do and how they hurt. I understand why people would be upset, which is why I made the choice to not use them anymore. I don’t joke like that anymore, because that was wrong.”
The comedian admitted that when The Academy gave him an ultimatum, he realised that the night was already tainted.
“I don’t want to step on that stage and make that night about me and my past when you’ve got people who have worked hard to step on that stage for the first time and receive an award,” he said. “I’m now taking away from all of those moments because the night is focused on something else now.”
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I believe in forgiveness. I believe in second chances. And I believe in @KevinHart4real.
Ellen then revealed that she contacted The Academy herself, and asked if they’d take him back.
She said: “They were like, ‘Oh my god, we want him to host. We feel like maybe he misunderstood or it was handled wrong or maybe he said the wrong thing, but we want him to host. Whatever we can do, we would be thrilled.’”
The talk show host continued: “The trolls are going to win if you don’t host the Oscars, you can’t let them destroy you and they can’t destroy you because you have too much talent. No one can do that.”
“For them to stop you from your dream, from what you wanted to do and what you have a right to do, what you should be doing. It’s why they haven’t found another host. I think they were secretly hoping that you would come back.”
Kevin seemed intrigued by Ellen’s comments, and assured her that he will think about what she said.
“You have said a lot of amazing things. You have put a lot of things on my mind. I know where our relationship stands,” he said.
“So leaving here, I promise you I’m evaluating this conversation. This is a conversation I needed to have. Let me assess, just to sit in the space and really think and you and I will talk before anything else.”
