Two days after Kevin Hart announced he would be hosting the 2019 Oscars, he found himself at the center of a Hollywood storm.
On Thursday, social media users resurfaced old homophobic tweets and jokes from the actor and comedian. Hart deleted the tweets, and posted a video on Instagram Thursday afternoon addressing the controversy.
The Night School star didn’t apologize or admit wrongdoing in the video. Instead, he described the situation as “beyond crazy.”
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Lying shirtless in bed, he said: “I swear, man, our world is becoming beyond crazy. I’m not going to let the craziness frustrate me or anger me, especially when I worked hard to get to the mental space that I am at now.”
He continued, “Guys. I’m almost 40 years old. If you don’t believe that people change, grow, evolve as they get older, I don’t know what to tell you. If you want to hold people in a position where they always have to justify or explain their past, then do you. I’m the wrong guy, man.”
LGBTQ rights organization, GLAAD, issued a statement to the media saying it had contacted The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to discuss Hart’s upcoming Oscars hosting gig.
“GLAAD reached out to ABC, The Academy and Kevin Hart’s management to discuss his rhetoric and record as well as opportunities for positive LGBTQ inclusion on the Oscars stage,” the organization said in a statement. “They have not yet responded.”
On Thursday night, Hart posted a second video on Instagram saying he had gotten a call from the Academy urging him to apologize but he refused.
“I passed on the apology,” he stated, adding that he had previously addressed the issue “several times.”
He added that some of the tweets were almost a decade old, and he would not cave to “internet trolls.”
“I’m gone be me. I’m gone stand my ground. Regardless, Academy, I’m thankful and appreciative of the opportunity. If it goes away, no harm, no foul,” he said.
