Washington: American comedian Kevin Hart claimed that he is done with the 2019 Academy Awards hours before Ellen DeGeneres encouraged him to return to host the Oscar.
Hours before appearing on ‘The Ellen DeGeneres Show’, the 39-year-old comedian spoke to Variety on their Playback podcast where he stated that he’s done with being a host for Oscars.
“Would I ever do it? No, it’s done. It’s done. The moment came and it was a blessing and I was excited at the opportunity and I still am. In my mind I got the job, it was a dream job, and things came up that simply prohibited it from happening. But I don’t believe in going backwards.” Hart said during the interview with Variety.
He further said, “There’s no ill will toward the Academy,” adding he was doing “fine” after the controversy.
Hart admitted he stepped down from the position partly because he did not want his dream job to become “an apology tour.”
“For me to take the moment of hosting the Oscars into an apology tour because that’s what it would become that didn’t make sense to me. Me doing the Oscars was to take the tension out of the Oscars.
It’s been so uptight for the last I don’t know how many years. ‘Kevin we want you to host because we want you to lighten the mood up and bring you and your essence to this night’,” he shared.
While it remains unclear if Hart will return as the Oscars host, he did promise that he would make it onto that famous stage.
“When I go on that stage, it will be because I’ve somehow figured out a way to win the Oscar. Somehow I’ll get to the stage but it’s not going to be in this way because it just comes with such a weird cloud at this point,” Hart said.
Hart also took the opportunity to apologise again for his previous comments, saying, “I stepped down because I’m not going to allow this to tarnish an amazing night for the other actors and actresses that are going to be on stage that night.”
However, when talking to DeGeneres, Hart said he would reconsider his decision of walking away from the hosting job, reported People.
“This is a conversation I needed to have, I’m glad that I had it here, and I’m glad that it was as authentic and real as I could have hoped that it would be. So let me assess, just to sit in this space and really think, and you and I will talk before anything else,” he told the host.
Hart also apologised for his past homophobic tweets that sparked the backlash. Meanwhile, DeGeneres revealed in the interview that she’s actively campaigning in support of Hart to have him reinstated as the host of Academy Awards.
The comedian faced backlash after being announced as the 2019 Oscars host in December for deleting previous homophobic tweets. He later stepped down as host of the ceremony.
[source_without_link]ANI[/source_without_link]