James Woods Warns Kevin Hart About Apologizing to ‘the Rage Mob’: ‘Don’t Climb Onto the Cross’

Actor/comedian bowed out as Oscars host after uproar over earlier homophobic tweets and comments

James Woods Kevin Hart Oscars
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If Kevin Hart keeps apologizing, he’s going to be really sorry. At least, that seems to be the advice that James Woods has for actor/comedian Hart.

“Once Upon a Time in America” actor Woods cautioned Hart about offering apologies to “the rage mob” on Tuesday, following news that would-be Oscars host Hart had “once again” apologized to the LGBTQ community for homophobic comments from Hart’s past.

The way Woods saw it, Hart only stands to gain further demands for apologies.

Woods went on to caution Hart, “Don’t climb onto that cross.”

“The only thing you’ll ever get for apologizing to the rage mob is their demand that you do it forever on a daily basis,” Woods tweeted Tuesday. “Don’t climb onto the cross. You’ll never get back down with this bunch.”

Woods’ assessment came accompanied by a link to a Los Angeles Times article stating that Hart had offered an apology Monday on his Sirius XM show “Straight From the Hart.”

“Once again, Kevin Hart apologizes for his remarks that hurt members of the LGBTQ community. I apologize,” Hart said, according to the Times.

Hart’s apology on his show came following an interview with Ellen DeGeneres last week, during which DeGeneres told Hart she’d personally called the Academy to urge the organization to rehire him. And, she said, she was told the Academy would be “thrilled” and that “we want him to host.”

Hart told DeGeneres, “Leaving here, I promise you, I’m evaluating this conversation. 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.”

Hart was announced as host of the Academy Awards on Dec. 4, but soon faced an uproar over old tweets in which he made homophobic jokes and comments. Hart, who most recently addressed the tweets in 2015, at first refused an ultimatum from the Academy to apologize or quit. But by the end of the day on Dec. 6, he apologized and quit.

Earlier in the interview with DeGeneres, Hart talked about his thinking during the uproar, saying in part that he chose at first to ignore it because “if you feed into it, then you add more fuel to the fire… Another day goes by and the fuel has grown — this thing is angry.”

He said also felt upset because he’d addressed the issue before and didn’t understand why that wasn’t being noted. “The headlines … said, ‘Kevin Hart refuses to apologize for homophobic tweets.’ They left out ‘again.’”

Hart went on to noted times he’s previously addressed and apologized for the comments during promotion for 2015’s “Get Hard,” and earlier in 2012. “I had to address it and apologize, say I understand those words, how they hurt,” he said. “I understand why people would be upset, which is why I made the choice to not use them anymore.”

“I don’t joke like that anymore,” Hart continued, “because that was wrong. I was a guy that was just looking for last and I was stupid.”

Read Woods’ words of advice below.

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