Hosting the Academy Awards may be one of the most thankless jobs in entertainment. The host is all but guaranteed to get ravished by critics regardless of how well they do, and celebrities usually resent them if their pokes at Hollywood hit too close to home. Well, Kevin Hart doesn’t have to worry about that anymore, because he has stepped down asb host of this year’s Oscars ater he was criticized for some decades old Tweets that appeared to by anti-gay.
Hart originally fought back against the backlash, stating on Instagram:
“So, I just got a call from the Academy and that call basically said, ‘Kevin: apologize for your tweets of old or we’re going to have to move on and find another host. I’m talking about the tweets from 2009 and 2010. The same energy that went into finding those old tweets could be the same energy put into finding the response to the questions that have been asked years after years, after years. We feed internet trolls and we reward them. I’m not going to do it, man.”
After what we assume was a call from the Academy and his publicist, Hart stated in a Tweet:
“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.”
Hart was a pretty late addition to the ceremony, which is being held February 24, 2019, so the ACademy has to scramble to find a new host, which apparently is a difficult task. If there are any celebrities looking to host, be sure you’ve cleaned all those skeletons out of your closet.
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