Kevin Hart and a Crisis of Oscar's Own Making
Saturday, January 5, 2019 at 4:18PM by Nathaniel R
If you don't have anything nice to say... don't say anything? No, no, but we must. The Film Experience has been uncharacteristically mum about the will they or won't they, would he and does he still, why'd she say that, and who next D-R-A-M-A surrounding the 'Kevin Hart no not Kevin Hart but maybe NO not Kevin Hart again' Hosting duties of the 91st Academy Awards.
A quick heavily editorialized summary and some Oscar hand-wringing.
Chapter 1. December 4th. Kevin Hart hired to host.
Chapter 2. December 5th. LGBTQ people and their allies complained about his extremely obvious homophobia as evident in unfunny jokes about gay people or gayness including a threat of physical violence if he caught his son playing with dolls...
Homophobia and misogyny are bosom buddies, you know.
Chapter 3. December 6th. Kevin Hart is asked to apologize and refuses to...
claiming he already has and why should he apologize again and publicly quits the gig while both half apologizing (even though he said he wouldn't which is why he was quitting -- huh?) and claiming to be the victim of the twitter mob.
Chapter 4. The next week or so. Lots of people express feelings ranging from "good riddance" to "oh come on you can't make jokes about anything anymore!" to "are we never going to forgive people for past sins anymore?" hand-wringing, and many other types of complaining including "Racist firing! They'd never do that to a white guy" (which, you know, screw fact-checking since the last time a famous person was fired from Oscar night duties it was very white Brett Rattner, who was let go for the same exact reason of homophobia -- if you need a memory jog as a lot of people clearly do, he said "rehearsal is for fags" while discussing his Oscar night duties and the shit hit the fan)
Chapter 5. The rest of December. A weird period of prolongued silence in which everyone wonders why no host has been announced to replace Kevin Hart.
Chapter 6. January 4th. Kevin is interviewed by Variety and claims "it's done" when pressed about doing the Oscars but hours later Ellen DeGeneres sticks her "Relatable" gay spokeswoman neck out there, not really reading the gay room (since she's part of the comic industrial machine) interviewing Kevin Hart and vocalizing that she has spoken with the Academy and they're open to still having him. She supports Hart getting the job.
Chapter 7. January 5th, Today. No sooner had the DeGeneres interview spread than we were back to Chapter 4 and everyone was angry again, partially because DeGeneres called everyone who objected to Hart having the job a "hater". And Kevin Hart starts playing the victim card again reasserting that is an "attack."
Honestly, this is exhausting.
And it takes the focus away from what the Oscars are about which is, contrary to that Ellen interview, in which she explicity states that the night should be about him (WTF?), THE MOVIES. This is not a complicated perspective. Anything that distracts from the movies or makes fun of people who watch movies or what not should have no place on the show! But since movies are not what we're focused on at the moment (sigh) let me just say two things that might not seem compatible but actually are.
1. I believe in forgiveness and I fear that outrage and shaming culture and the scorched-earth 'you're cancelled' mentality that has so infected public discourse and politics in this country is highly problematic because it lacks compassion and empathy which is strange and self-defeating because a lot of time what's motivating this very righteous anger is hateful behavior that demonstrates a monstrous lack of compassion and empathy (i.e. sexual assault, rape, harassment, racism, homophobia, misogyny etcetera)
2. Fuck Kevin Hart!
See, there's no need to forgive someone who isn't remorseful and whose every apology is half-assed and so obviously prefaced with an annoyed 'but what about me?!?' selfishness. How does forgiving and excusing such behavior help? Kevin Hart has shown no real understanding of why his jokes about physical violence towards gay behavior (among others) are offensive. Every "apology" has also painted him as the victim for losing a job he wanted. That is not an apology. That's smoke and mirrors. That's 'please ignore this thing I did because I want this other cool thing.' Both Ellen and Kevin had real opportunities here to dig into how homophobia happens and sticks around, a real chance to explore how people grow and change and why they should. Instead they made it all about Kevin, the victim.
Violence and discrimination against the LGBTQ community have never gone away, despite much social and legal progress over the 50 years since the Stonewall riots. One of the reasons they persist is that homophobia is normalized and condoned by so many people, including the Academy but we'll get to them in a minute. It's not impossible to change course and to stop being homophobic. A ton of people do it all the time. Gay people have to do it when they come out and work through the internalized homophobia they've grown up with in a homophobic culture. Many people who know gay people personally have also made this journey and are better off for it because... wait for this shocking life-hack...it's more joyful and rewarding to love and accept your children/friends/siblings/coworkers/neighbors than to hate and judge them!
As much as Kevin Hart is not the victim here and saying so is missing the point altogether, there is a small, nay miniscule, and underdiscussed way that he is a victim. He is a victim of the consequences of the Academy's inability to get their shit together and accept what they're about and understand who they should be trying to serve.
Kevin Hart should never have even been offered the job in the first place and the fact that he was (despite common knowledge about his comedy) is yet another example of the Academy grasping at straws to solve a problem that they think exists which really doesn't (the popularity problem we've discussed before.) Despite being the #1 awards show on Earth (still, 91 years later) they have let themselves be entirely convinced that they are "irrelevant" despite the facts. And they're continually obsessing over how to get people who don't care about the Oscars to watch the Oscars while ignoring the desires of the people who LOVE the Oscars and look forward to watching all year. Why turn off your most loyal audience with these anti-movie decisions (like axing creative awards on air, dumping the lifetime achievement awards, etcetera) for the sake of an audience that doesn't like you to begin with. If you love Kevin Hart but don't care about the Oscars are you really going to watch because he's hosting? No. There are DOZENS of ways you can enjoy Kevin Hart without bothering with a show you don't care about. There are comedy specials and movies by the dozen. And you won't have to wade through acceptance speeches by other celebrities to enjoy him.
Rather than thinking about what kind of people watch the Oscars -- pop culture savvy types, old people, movie buffs, awards show junkies, celebrity gawkers, the gays, women, etcetera -- they're thinking "Kevin Hart is a popular comedian!" So what? It should only be about whether or not the person is right for the show. Movie stars who are funny and/or entertaining have in the past proved to be the best option for the show (think Whoopi Goldberg, Hugh Jackman, Billy Crystal, Bob Hope, etcetera) so on this one surface level maybe Hart seemed like a good option. He is a movie star who is funny (or perceived to be at least, to each their own) but was he ever the right pick? Didn't anyone at the Academy ever think 'hmmm, maybe homophobic comics aren't right for a show that the LGBTQ community is loyal to... especially not after we already fired a guy for saying fag and lost our host that year, too, because he was loyal to the guy'.
But the Oscars are a mess. Or, as Mark Harris so eloquently put it on Twitter
How agonized and sour the Academy's relationship with its own show has become."
In short, and to wrap this up, we care very little about Kevin Hart but we care a lot about the Oscars. We wish that the Oscars did, too.
P.S. One final random thought. The problem of finding the right Oscar host -- a job that few people want given the intense workload, public scrutiny, and the small payout (for celebrities at least) that reportedly comes with the gig --could be entirely moot if the Academy realized they don't really need one, but this is not the world we live in. The Academy needs needs needs. They never seem to realize that they are already enough.
Reader Comments (58)
What they could do is for performer we could have a 2 minute reel of their work up to the nomination,a recap.
More veteran stars,more accolades for the under sung people of Hollywood,looking back ona classic oscar winner to celebrate an anniversary of said film,Midnight Cowboy is 50,K vs K is 40,American Beauty is 20 and so on,make the meoriam section longer let's remeber those gone properly and not in 5 mins,a pic of a smiling Liz Taylor just doesn't cut it.
Wow...I've been following this site for years and I don't think I've ever seen you use an expletive, Nathaniel. I can definitely feel your anger!
As for Kevin Hart, I'm sure the Academy didn't know about his homophobic tweets when they hired him (I certainly didn't) so I'm guessing they were hoping a very sincere and public apology would have done the trick. Unfortunately, I don't think they envisioned Hart to be so hostile and defensive (not to mention narcissistic; the Ellen interview is tough to watch).
I imagine finding a replacement host after the first round of controversy would have been tough enough, but now after this second round of controversy I don't see anyone wanting to take that job. Here's hoping they go host-less, everyone comes to enjoy that format, and that it becomes the norm going forward.
I totally support your views on this Hart case. I think a number of host presenters might work this year. It has in the past and I cannot imagine anyone wanting to take on this job after so much controversy.
Agreed that the Academy can't figure out what it wants.
There have been several "edgy" hosts in the past years brought in to shake things up, be more irreverent, draw in new eyeballs, etc ... but then someone on Twitter goes off and the Academy is all "oh no! they shook things up and were irreverent!"
Bravo Nathaniel !
This should be mailed to the Academy and posted on the Variety front page.
Can we please have a host that loves movies and is not a gay hating presence???
This is like having Ann Coulter host the Democrat Convention
Hopefully Kevin Hart gets the chance to host again. He seems like a decent guy. Everyone including Nathaniel has said regrettable things. I'm not going to be the type of asshole that'll badger over a mistake.
Thank you for sharing your intelligent, passionate response.
You can't nominate Mel Gibson and pretend you have a leg to stand on here.
Hear! Hear! I agree 100%.
If they still want a host for the year, I hope they find someone who cares about the Oscars and not just in a "I'd like to host them so I get lots of attention" kinda way. They will never make casual fans care about the Oscars if they consistently hire hosts whose main source of comedy is about how the show is too long, the show is too boring, the nominated films are too esoteric, etc... It just tells new viewers that the show they're watching is irrelevant, which of course we Oscar viewers who suffer through the Seth MacFarlanes and Jimmy Kimmels and Kevin Harts of the world know it's not.
Again, it comes down to the Academy having enough confidence to know that they're still the "Night of Nights" and they set the bar for live broadcasts.
I always think about that:
they're continually obsessing over how to get people who don't care about the Oscars to watch the Oscars while ignoring the desires of the people who LOVE the Oscars and look forward to watching all year. Why turn off your most loyal audience with these anti-movie decisions (like axing creative awards on air, dumping the lifetime achievement awards, etcetera) for the sake of an audience that doesn't like you to begin with.
Academy, stick to your fans. We can have a four, five, six hour show because we love you and we love films. Do not become what you are not just to please people who do not care about you. Do not become something else or you are going to be alone.
No Kevin hart at all! He is not funny! He is not nice! As a foreign viewer (I am from South America) I don't think he is funny or even good person.
No host this year
Presenters being famous people of now, Imortal people of all time!
let's put...
John Williams to present Original Score
Alan Menken (if not nominated) and Burt Bacharach to present Original Song
Julie Andrews and Dick Van Dyke to present Best Directing
Vanessa Redgrave to present Foreign Film
Judi Dench and Maggie Smith to present Screenplays
James Earl Jones and Mark Hamill to present Visual Effects ("Luke, I am not your Industrial Light and Magic Father)
Dame Olivia de Havilland to present Best Picture
The Academy has a lot of good people to put on the stage an make this 91th Oscar unmissable!
Great to see you and this post Nathaniel! I've been gone for a while as I work online, but I am back for the Oscar season and agree with every word.
The Oscar ceremony should be about THE MOVIES. Not politics. Not homophobia. Not who Ellen likes to sit in her seat.
The academy needs to choose a Host who is WELL VERSED with Academy knowledge, filmmaking, and knows how to work a crowd. Sandra Bullock said it best: "Pick random actors from the audience and let them host a couple of minutes. They are, after all, actors." YES! Please do that. Back in the 70s the academy actually used to have many, many actors do dual-hosting duties.
Kevin Hart (and Ellen for that matter) are oblivious to the Oscars. Complete deer in the headlights. At least Billy Crystal, Whoopi Goldberg and Robin Williams ALL had film knowledge haven WORKED in the industry as actors; and Goldberg and Williams both were Oscar nominees themselves (Goldberg already one for Ghost by the time she hosted for the 1993 ceremonies in 1994).
I don't think Hart should be yelled at for Tweets he made 10 years ago, but its painfully obvious he's homophobic. He should NOT be hosting then. The Oscars are watched by many, many gay people including myself. The academy has a LOT of gay people. It's like asking a drag queen to be a commentator for the Super Bowl. NO! Just no. Because the Queen would be talking about the hot players and their attire, NOT the game and plays being made. Same goes for the host of the Oscars. PLEASE academy- hire a REAL movie person to host. I'll be glad to do it myself.
I totally agree that Kevin Hart has botched this beyond repair in a variety of mind-boggling ways.
That said I would push back on the notion that he never should have been considered in the first place. Yeah, The Academy should be less obsessed with attracting more "normals" to the telecast, but usually picking a famous host is one of the less intrusive ways they go about doing it and if that's what we have to put up with in order to fend off inanities like the "popular film" award I'm willing to take it.
As for whether the Academy should have known about his homophobia in the past... well, I'm not sure this was as foreseeable as some people make it out to be. Other recent hosts like Chris Rock, Jimmy Kimmel, and Seth MacFarlane also had "edgy" and potentially offensive material in their past and didn't see anywhere near the same kind of outrage. That's not to excuse Kevin Hart or suggest there's some special conspiracy against him, but given that the Academy has gotten away with these kinds of choices before I'm guessing they were surprised on some level that there was this extra scrutiny around Hart, whose booming career has otherwise been largely unaffected by this kind of controversy.
👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼
Totally agree. He is a homophobic twerp. Ellen (who is so vanilla and boring in her sucking up to closeted celebrities) suddenly goes out on a limb for a homophobe? Why? The Oscars need to move on and get their shit together.
Amen
A little long winded, but you nailed it sir, thank you.
Also someone needs to remind Ellen that she herself was the victim of harsh homophobic bashing in the late 90s, when after winning an Emmy for "The Puppy Episode" (with her character coming out the closet), her series dipped drastically in the ratings because America "couldn't handle gay storylines." She was pretty much outcast, talked about and scrutinized for being open about her sexuality- not to mention making it a big Network deal. Then she disappeared. Rosie O'Donnell was the Queen of Nice for talkshow hosts for a quick minute. Then suddenly, tides turned and Rosie was being called "not so nice". Ellen rebounded with a talk show, didn't really mention her sexuality, and with the success of Finding Nemo (2003) was able to ride the box-office success of her Dory character so she could rejoin the living rooms of the same people who outcast her.
Hollywood is really odd like that. They'll love you, tear you apart, then act like they have Alzheimer's disease and welcome you back to the club. Just ask Robert Downey, Jr. He went from being an Oscar nominee for Chaplin (1992), to doing drugs, getting kicked off Ally MacBeal, lying in allies completely done for- and then rebounded with Iron Man and Tropical Thunder, becoming for a while the biggest money-making actor ever.
I just wish Ellen wasn't so cowardly about her sexuality. I would NEVER have allowed Kevin Hart on my set if I myself was gay. NEVER. Just like he wouldn't want a racist person anywhere near his production team for his comedy shows. It's sad that there seems to be a double standard when it comes to bigotry and prejudice.
It never ends. This is too painful.
Six months of my life are more bereable thanks to Oscars. Don't mess with that, Academy.
I want to build on Soshua's excellent suggestion.
The presenters should all be previous Oscar winners: Denzel Washington and Viola Davis, Javier Bardem and Penelope Cruz, Ang Lee and Alejandro G. Inarrotu , Christoph Waltz and Octavia Spencer, etc. The Academy can demonstrate the breadth and diversity of its winners without having to call attention to it in pandering of defensive ways.
The host should be Steven Spielberg or Martin Scorsese or both, who can speak on the significance of the past cinematic achievements. The show does not need comedy; comedy sinks it (see Kimmel).
Nathaniel is absolutely correct that Kevin Hart will attract no one to watch who would not otherwise be doing so.
The Academy is stuck in a formula that no longer works.
I disagree. Making comics apoligize for all their offensive jokes is ridiculous. People get butt-hurt far far too easily.
AND I have no idea why you think Ellen should “read the room”. She’s entitled to her own opinion and the fact that she speaks it (despite all the angry ppl out there) is to be commended. No need to start shaming her too Nathaniel. Geez
I dunno. I think Ellen was trying to be peacemaker at the Academy's urging, but it has blown up in her face. This happens to successful, rich people who become isolated and clueless and think they have powers or insight beyond their grasp. Kevin Hart's past gay jokes are still hurtful and if he can't say I'm sorry, one can reasonably feel like he doesn't get it. I really appreciated what Don Lemon said on this topic.
I really won't go too far into all this, as most of the discourse doesn't help.
Will just say that your first point so very good. And your second point is mostly so very good.
The reason I say mostly is because there's a lot of detail (I know that shouldn't be bad).
In general, he's a super funny person who has been a great standup, but has no chill lol. He is EVERYWHERE and without reason, straight up selling out. And part of that is talk of his brand and the fact he is way too self-involved. So rather than see it as insensitive, I just think he's full of himself and it more than sometimes gets in the way of his comedy. His movies don't suck too hard, and I can laugh a bit, but sometimes it goes on too much because he needs to be made a big deal of. It's already his vehicle, yet he still feels the need to upstage himself?
Also, fair point on the Oscars. Chris Rock is in the all-time top 5, and I don't have a problem with him being he host. My issue is what you said, that the Oscars try to hard to appeal to everyone despite the fact that they're a specific thing, and they get a billion viewers.
On his apology tho. His point was that he's apologized already, and there is some part of him that's just tired of these scary attempts at PC. I don't like Louis CK but the criticism of his recent thing is so sad and so gross.
Unfortunately he's more focused on crying. He's just annoying and self-involved.
Wasn't Don Lemon's point that he actually NEVER apologized? He said he did in the past, but no one can find a quote of it.
Nathaniel (and Don Lemon) said everything that needs to be said. Not gonna lie, really not feeling the need to watch the Oscars this year. Truth be told, I've been more inconsistent as of late - watching them afterwards, but it's approaching the point where it's not even about "making a point" to myself.
I say NO to Kevin Hart. I know nobody really wants the gig but there are so many, many talented people to choose from.
No one needs to remind Ellen of anything. Shes her own person.
Theres a difference between giving repressed people like the LGBT community a voice and a table at the discussion verse letting them dictate culture entirely.
The Oscars popularity problem is real. Being the #1 awards show in Nielsen Ratings is not a significant benchmark. The point is to get more people watching awards shows and watching those movies.
Kevin Hart no longer used a comedy routine that's homophobic and that's the main thing. He was saying that he could only apologize so much but we all see what we want to ses
Wow, Nathaniel! I think this is the best post in the history of THE FILM EXPERIENCE!
All my own thoughts and feelings about the Oscars have been summed up in your excellent piece.
Well done.
Ellen is a self-loathing gay. Awful.
Oscar being about the movies!!! That's a joke.
If the Oscars were about the movies then Black Panther would never be anywhere near all the nominations it will get.
Kevin Hart's only crime is to make the kind of jokes all comedians made until a couple of years ago when being funny at other people's expenses became a sign of bad character.
If Eddie Murphy made "Raw" today he would be rolled in tar and feather and driven out of show business.
"Fuck Kevin Hart"? No. Fuck people who gets offended about verything just because they can. If you have the right to be offended then I have the right to offend you. That's how it should be. And neither me nor you are bad people because of it.
The licence to offend has officially been revoked from all comedians.
"You don't have to be gay to act like a faggot" - quote Chris Rock, former Oscar host.
With that being said - let Ricky Gervais host the Oscars. He'll only offend the nominees.
The way things have played out so far, even with his statements pertaining to growing as a person, I'm not convinced Hart won't be on a set in the future and start cutting down gays with "the guys" (and maybe some of the gals too, judging from where I've worked). Hope I'm wrong, but there's still plenty of this going on in society; there's also a reason Hart refused to apologize initially, and homophobia had a lot to do with it.
You don't have to hate gay people when making a joke about gay people. Kevin Hart also doesn't hate white people just because he has made a joke about white people.
Heart has a big mainstream movie coming out soon which is probably the reason someone wanted him to host- the Academy should have looked into his work- very easy to do these days to dig up anything the political correct police would find offensive before offering him the job. I'm not a Hart fan and I really don't see him as host material- unless he takes over the show which the problem I had with Jimmy Kimmel. Do we have someone like Bob Hope or Johnny Carson these days? Does the show even need a host? It would probably run faster if someone just introduced the presenters off stage.
Jimmy Kimmel? Him hosting was a joke. On The Man Show he made more offensive jokes than Kevin Hart has made in his entire career.
It's fascinating to read this post and its responses. We're hitting upon a true hot button right now: how the culture is changing and how it plays into comedy. I agree that Hart blew it by not apologizing instantly and properly, because then the whole thing just would have blown over, and I think his heart is finally in the right place. But this latest chapter is interesting: it feels strange that Ellen would take it upon herself to CALL THE ACADEMY and then put the opportunity back in his lap after the whole thing had passed. It seems like a publicity stunt at best and an opportunistic grab to show how "open" she is at worst. There are other ways for Ellen to "start a dialogue" about this without making a secret call to the Academy and then springing it on the public on her show (I'm certain it wasn't "sprung" on Hart last minute and that it was all discussed prior to his interview the day he arrived). we may never know the truth, but nathaniel, i'm glad you're putting yourself out there and discussing this on the site...we should be doing that more often. there are many situations where the evolution in our culture is affecting the movie business and its critical reception in bizarre ways, and it should be part of our dialogue...we shouldn't live in fear of bringing it up in case we "say the wrong thing" when our intentions are purely to discuss it all.
Maybe Ellen tries to get the job? After all she is the best host since the glory days of Billy Crystal.
Nathaniel has a point about alienating the target audience. Millions of people watch sporting events (Super Bowl, World Series) on television and they are not changing to get new audiences involved. Baseball and football have been around a long time and are part of American culture with the Oscars but If they got a celebrity to sing the national anthem would you still tune into the game if you weren't watching anything of the season before? The Oscars have a fan base devoted to movies and the magic they provide. Shoving them aside for casual customers will only result in no one watching or caring in the end.
Just to be clear, his homophobic comments were saying he would beat his son if he saw him do anything he thought was gay. That' wasn't an off the cuff regrettable comment on Twitter; that was part of his touring set for years. The tweets were in addition to that. That's what his comedy is like. I'm not the only one uncomfortable with letting that kind of mindset go out live on television. I'm especially not cool with it if he refuses to actually apologize and plays the victim when he thinks it's funny to joke about beating a child for possibly being gay.
Ellen had to have been given notes that said Kevin apologized; he did not. He did the sorry if you're offended/upset apology, not an apology where he said anything about his past words or actions. Even that was after major public outrage at his refusal to apologize and only when he had no choice but to back out of hosting the Oscars. I'm also guessing Ellen didn't know, joke or not, Kevin's solution to a gay child was to beat him straight. Probably wouldn't be defending him too hard after all she went through in Hollywood if she knew that.
Is hologram Bob Hope really off the table?
Nathaniel,
Completely agree with every word.
I couldn't agree more.
All this article sounds like music to me.
Thanks.
Totally agree with your post Nathaniel. If Kevin Hart came on Ellen and was truly apologetic and not defensive and calling people haters and internet trolls (not to mention that he said ‘I’m sorry I’ve hurt peoples feelings’ which is a total non-apology) I would have been ok with him hosting. What boggles my mind is how he and Ellen, who I thought of before as quiet media savvy could mess this up so badly. That interview should have been a slam dunk and it was a total disaster.
Portia is right and Ellen knows but is deluded! She thought she had some kind of healer power. He said some weird shit to her like, I will think about what you said, but *thought bubble* I am not making any decision live on your stupid show. Now he doesn’t want it. She looks like a stooge. He genuinely doesn’t think anything he said was wrong and people are out to destroy his career. In the context of the Oscars, this is perhaps their greatest mistake to kill their show before it airs.
The 91st ceremony should forgo a host. They want to cut the show down for time eliminating an MC does that.
If there has to be a host, how about Graham Norton?
It appears Ellen has been playing the Good Lesbian so long that she has forgotten what too many LGBTQ people face. In the past six months, I've come across a half dozen stories about boys being assaulted/murdered by parents/guardians for "appearing" or "behaving" gay. If I actually believed in teachable moments, this would have been the perfect opportunity for Hart to be schooled on how dangerous such a "joke" is and why his recent non-apology apology wasn't good enough. Instead, they kept the focus on Hart getting a job he decided to step away from back. Disgusting.
This whole fiasco could make your head explode. 100% right on to Nathanial!
Can we foward this to the Academy governors and the show producers? Bravo! So well said and not even if you made a chart it would make it more clear. So on point on all levels.