Actor Kevin Hart famously stepped down from hosting the Oscars in 2019 after his past homophobic tweets resurfaced. In a new interview, the 41-year-old comedian has slammed cancel culture.
“If somebody has done something truly damaging then, absolutely, a consequence should be attached,” Hart told UK’s Sunday Times. “But when you just talk about… nonsense? When you’re talking, ‘Someone said! They need to be taken [down]!’ Shut the [expletive] up! What are you talking about?”
Hart, who was promoting his upcoming Netflix film ‘Fatherhood’, said people aren’t perfect and shouldn’t be expected to be so.
“When did we get to a point where life was supposed to be perfect?” Hart said. “Where people were supposed to operate perfectly all the time? I don’t understand. I don’t expect perfection from my kids. I don’t expect it from my wife, friends, employees. Because, last I checked, the only way you grow up is from [messing] up.”
Following the backlash to his tweets ahead of the 2019 Oscars, Hart withdrew as host as he didn’t want to be a distraction.
Hart also famously refused to apologise for the tweets. In a video on Instagram, he had said the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences gave him an ultimatum, saying he should say sorry or they would find another host.
“I chose to pass on the apology,” Hart said in that video. “The reason why I passed is because I’ve addressed this several times.”
The 2019 Oscars ended up being held without a host for the first time since 1989.
“I’ve been cancelled, what, three or four times? Never bothered,” Hart said in his recent interview. “If you allow it to have an effect on you, it will. Personally? That’s not how I operate.”
