Kevin Hart said upon reflection he “f— up” how he handled the situation after he stepped down from hosting the 2019 Academy Awards after old tweets resurfaced that were deemed homophobic.
“With the whole Oscars thing, there was a big gap between what I thought the problem was versus what the problem really was,” the 40-year-old comedian shared with Men’s Health magazine. The comments were noted by Fox News in a piece published Thursday. (RELATED: Watch Kevin Hart In The Hilarious Trailer For His Upcoming Movie ‘Night School’)
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“I got 10 years where I made sure not to joke or play in the way that I did back then because it was a problem,” he added. “I don’t care if you’re gay or not gay. I’m a people person. I’m going to love you regardless.” (RELATED: Bryan Cranston Says ‘Sexual Predatory Behavior Is Not A Hollywood Problem’)
Hart continued, “It wasn’t until close friends like Wanda Sykes, Lee Daniels, and Ellen [DeGeneres] talked to me and explained what they didn’t hear me say that I understood. Then I was like, ‘Oh, s— —I did f— up.'”
The “Jumanji: Welcome To The Jungle” star made similar comments about how he “missed an opportunity to say simply that I don’t condone any type of violence in any way” after stepping down from hosting the Oscars during his Netflix docuseries titled “Kevin Hart: Don’t F— This Up.”
“I missed an opportunity to say simply that I don’t condone any type of violence in any way, shape or form to anyone for being who they are,” Hart said. “I f—ed up. … Instead, I said, ‘I addressed it.’ I said, ‘I apologized.’ I said, ‘I talked about this already.’ I was just immature.”
“You can’t do it by yourself,” he added. “You don’t let them do their jobs by being the defiant. When you’re wrong it’s going to hurt because you’re going to look back and go, ‘f—, I should’ve listened.'”
As previously reported, the “Night School” star stepped away from hosting the 91st Academy Awards over year-old tweets deemed homophobic, resulting in the Academy opting to go host-less in 2019.