Apparently Kevin Hart may host the Oscars this year after all.
Hart initially stepped down from the gig after a series of homophobic tweets from a decade ago resurfaced, followed by disappointment and outrage that Hart wouldn’t apologize for them after insisting he had already done so previously.
In an interview that will be airing later today, Hart laments to Ellen DeGeneres how frustrating the events that led to the loss of his hosting job were.
And DeGeneres seems to agree with the comedian, tweeting a clip of the interview out in advance with the caption “I believe in forgiveness. I believe in second chances. And I believe in Kevin Hart.”
DeGeneres also says she called the Academy herself and asked for Hart to be reinstated as this year’s host.
“We want him to host, we feel like maybe he misunderstood or it was handled wrong, or maybe we said the wrong thing,” someone from the Academy reportedly told her. “But we want him to host. Whatever we can do, we want him to host.”
In one of the clips, Hart tells DeGeneres that he initially wanted to ignore the resurgence of his old homophobic tweets, because “we feed into that stuff, we only add more fuel to the fire.” He expresses exacerbation upon seeing the tweets resurface, reiterating again that he’d already apologized in the past and didn’t feel the need to do so again.
He goes on to say that he declined the “ultimatum” he felt he was given to either apologize (again) or he would have to be replaced as host because he felt it would overshadow the excitement and accomplishments of the Oscar nominees if he got on stage and had to address his past homophobic tweets.
For her part, DeGeneres urged Hart to consider going back to the gig.
“What we’re going to get to see on stage with you hosting the Oscars is sophistication, class, hilarity and you growing as a person,” she said. “Because most people would say, ‘I’m walking away … ’ For you to be the bigger man, for you to say I understand …and to not pay attention. There are so many haters out there. Whatever is going on in the internet, don’t pay attention to them. That’s a small group of people being very, very loud. We are a huge group of people who love you and want to see you how host the Oscars.”
Some people may take Hart’s appearance on Ellen as absolution, but the insistence that people upset with his reactions the past few weeks, even more than the original, and yes very old tweets, are trolls is a specific reframing of the events that isn’t sitting well with everyone.
Will Hart end up going back to hosting the Oscars? Maybe. If he does, the more interesting question may be what he does with that platform when he gets there. Especially now that he’s got help turning this into a narrative of being an underdog trying to rise above the “haters.”
You can watch more clips of the interview here.
