WASHINGTON — Now that the Golden Globes are behind us, Oscar season is officially here.
And the burning question remains — who is going to host the broadcast on Sunday, Feb. 24?
On Friday, Kevin Hart appeared on the talk show “Ellen,” in which Ellen DeGeneres urged him to reconsider his decision to step down as host over offensive homophobic tweets in 2008.
I believe in forgiveness. I believe in second chances. And I believe in @KevinHart4real. pic.twitter.com/oJxfGXhU4P
— Ellen DeGeneres (@TheEllenShow) January 4, 2019
The Academy had announced Hart as host on Dec. 5. He stepped down two days later:
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
Now, the 39-year-old Hart tells DeGeneres that he’s not the same man he was at age 29.
“I don’t joke like that anymore, because that was wrong,” Hart said. “That was a guy that was just looking for laughs, and that was stupid. I don’t do that anymore. … I’ve taken 10 years to put my apologies to work. I’ve yet to go back to that version of the immature comedian that once was. I’ve moved on, I’m a grown man, I’m cultured. … I look at life through a different lens, and because of that, I live it a different way. … Either my apology is accepted, or it isn’t.”
During the interview, DeGeneres endorsed a public forgiveness of Hart.
“As a gay person … I am sensitive to all of that,” DeGeneres said. “Not realizing how dangerous those words are, not realizing how many kids are killed for being gay or beaten up every day. You have grown, you have apologized. … Don’t let those people win — host the Oscars.”
The two-time Oscar host went as far as calling the Academy to urge Hart’s return.
“They were like, ‘Oh my God, we want him to host,'” Ellen said. “’We feel like that maybe he misunderstood or it was handled wrong. Maybe we said the wrong thing, but we want him to host. Whatever we can do. We would be thrilled. And he should host the Oscars.’”
The DeGeneres endorsement is significant. Not only does she understand the perspective of edgy comedians pushing the envelope, she speaks from a uniquely historic position within the LGBTQ community ever since her watershed “I’m gay” announcement in 1997. Revealed on her sitcom “Ellen” (1994-1998), the move was so controversial at the time that ABC placed a parental advisory at the beginning of each episode before ultimately canceling the series.
President Barack Obama cited this moment during her 2016 Presidential Medal of Freedom.
“It’s easy to forget now, when we’ve come so far … just how much courage was required for Ellen to come out on the most public of stages almost 20 years ago,” Obama said. “Just how important it was not just for the LGBTQ community, but for all us to see somebody so full of kindness and light — somebody we liked so much, somebody who could be our neighbor or our colleague or our sister — challenge our own assumptions, remind us that we have more in common than we realize, and push our country in the direction of justice. What an incredible burden it was to bear, to risk your career like that. People don’t do that very often.”
It was a humbling moment for President Obama himself, who campaigned against gay marriage in 2008, only to champion gay rights during his second term, illuminating the White House with rainbow-colored lights after the Supreme Court legalized gay marriage in 2015.
The point is, we all grow, we all change and we all evolve, especially on a cultural issue that has changed hearts and minds more rapidly than just about any other in American politics.
That doesn’t excuse Hart’s insensitivity a decade ago. Plenty of brave entertainment figures were ahead of the curve, as the likes of Freddie Mercury, George Michael and Elton John courageously brought the issue into the mainstream after decades of Hollywood giants being forced to live in the closet, from Vincente Minnelli to George Cukor to Rock Hudson.
The Oscars are a fitting time for such a conversation. Hollywood has long been the inclusive home of Jonathan Demme’s “Philadelphia” (1993), exposing homophobia in the workplace; Ang Lee’s “Brokeback Mountain” (2005), dissecting homophobia in rural areas; and Barry Jenkins’ “Moonlight” (2016), challenging homophobia in the African-American community.
Sunday’s surprise Best Picture win by “Bohemian Rhapsody” (2018) at the Golden Globes sets the stage for an even more honest conversation at the Oscars. Some may see Hart’s potential return to hosting as tone deaf; I see it as an opportunity for repentance, healing and grace.
However, it will only work if Hart changes his tune that he’s “tired of talking about it.”
“It’s tough for me because it was an attack,” Hart told DeGeneres. “This wasn’t an accident. … I’m on social media every day. I’ve got over 40,000 tweets. To go through 40,000 tweets to get to 2008 … that’s a malicious attack on my character. … This was to destroy me.”
Maybe so, Mr. Hart, but it’s now your responsibility to talk about it for the greater good. That’s what public figures must do — take uncomfortable situations and rise to the occasion. The same uphill climb awaits Hulk Hogan and Roseanne Barr, whose wounds are far more fresh. If they take the next decade to make amends, who says they won’t get the same opportunity?
Either way, we as a culture benefit more by opening a conversation than by destroying lives with an instant mob mentality. Let’s not crucify people; let’s provide a path of redemption.
Kevin Hart should remorsefully host the Oscars — as a teachable moment for all watching.
