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US COMEDIAN AND actor Kevin Hart abruptly withdrew from hosting the Oscars last night amid flack for past homophobic and anti-gay tweets.
Two days after announcing he had landed what he called a dream gig, Hart said that the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences had told him to choose between apologising for the tweets or losing the job.
The controversy revolved around several of his tweets and comments – most of them several years old – that used the word “gay” as an insult or were otherwise deemed homophobic.
Hart said the tweets were from nearly a decade ago and that he has matured since then, and refused to apologise.
“I chose to pass on the apology. The reason why I passed is because I’ve addressed this several times,” Hart, aged 39, said during a video posted to Instagram.
“I’ve said who I am now versus who I was then. I’ve done it. I’m not going to continue to go back and tap into the days of old when I’ve moved on and I’m in a completely different place in my life,” Hart said.
On Twitter, Hart apologised to the LGBTQ community for what he called “my insensitive words from my past”.
“I’m sorry that I hurt people,” he added.
I am evolving and want to continue to do so. My goal is to bring people together not tear us apart. Much love & appreciation to the Academy. I hope we can meet again.
The Academy must now find a new host for the 91st Academy Awards in February.
The ‘Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle’ star was to have hosted the glitzy event after talk show host Jimmy Kimmel held the gig for two consecutive years.
Whoever hosts it will face pressure to boost audience ratings for the annual show that will be held on 24 February in Hollywood and which had an all-time low of 26.5 million viewers last year, compared to 43 million in 2014.
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has said that it was introducing a number of changes to improve viewership, including shortening the show to three hours and handing out some of the awards during commercial breaks.
Apparently this guy had been watched 24/7 since 2016. They spent all this time, money and resources on a guy who wasn’t even a New Zealander and this still happens. Why wasn’t he just deported?
@Colleen: Because you can’t arrest people for crimes they are yet to commit.
@Niamh Hayes: you can if you can prove conspiracy
@Michael Burke: They obviously couldn’t prove conspiracy then.
@Colleen: he would face “torture and violence” if he was deported, his lawyers said
@Niamh Hayes: yes you can.. I saw it on a documentary called “minority report”
@Niamh Hayes: look up the difference between deported and arrested.
@Colleen: NZ has a varefullg-crafted superiority complex to consider.
@Niamh Hayes:
You’re right but he was arrested previously for planning an attack but it was ruled by a judge that planning an attack is not illegal. Maybe it should be.
@Paul O Connor: that’s outrageous if true. Planning mass murder isn’t a crime?
@Niamh Hayes: crazy law
If he was known to be a violent extremist since 2016 why wasn’t he deported.
@Philip Kedney: because they are too soft. Now they are paying the price.
@Philip Kedney: because of barbaric principles like “innocent until proven guilty”?
Its only a matter of time before something like this happens in Dublin, plenty of extremists here under investigation; Sure didn’t one of the attackers in England have an Irish ID card a few years back and a Dublin address
@David Lee: got married in Ireland ya. Was staying out in Santry for a bit too, you are correct. Ireland, albeit an enemy to the Islamic State, is less likely to be attacked due to our strategic benefit to IS. Our security is incredibly lax and we share an unmanned border with the UK who would be a much bigger target in their eyes. They use Ireland as a gateway and therefore would not like to draw attention or give cause for increased security and scrutiny to their activities in Ireland by launching an attack here. Of course that is a large co-ordinated attack. We would very much be at risk from the lone wolf nut-jobs alright who are inspired by IS twisted ideology.
in ireland he would have got a good slap on the hand and a strongly worded letter
Was wondering how far down the page we’d make it before the obligatory inane ‘comparison’ comment.
Terrible thing to happen. Please God, all the victims will make a full recovery.
Great to see we have so many security and anti-terrorism experts, all putting their skills to their best use writing comments on thejournal.ie.
So they lied when they originally said it was “random”? Or are they just that incompetent?
@Thomas Smyth: It’s sounding as if he was copying IS attacks but not in a cell of terrorists conspiring to plan an attack? It’s that odd difference again between a gang with a religious or political motive and a wanna be serial killer, I suppose.
Unclear at this point whether or not suspect was NZ citizen / if he was might help explain why he wasn’t deported.
What was a Sri Lankan doing in NZ for 10 years? Was he legally resident,with status? Why wasnt he deported for his known extremist views?
‘Under surveillance’ resulting what the authorities suspected would happen is laughable. Same with the London Bridge attack…..’under surveillance’ before the guy had even left prison.
Going after New Zealand no country is safe from terrorism.
@andrew: no country is safe from a lunatic. ‘Terrorism’ is a handy tag.
@Alan McArdle: Some countries are more susceptible than others particularly in the era were living in.
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