Kevin Hart has responded to the uproar over dozens of old homophobic tweets that resurfaced Wednesday, after the comedian was named the host of the 2019 Academy Awards.
“I swear man, our world is becoming beyond crazy,” the comedian said in a grainy black and white video posted to his Instagram account Wednesday afternoon. “I’m not going to let the craziness frustrate me.”
“My team calls me, ‘Oh my God, Kevin, this world is upset about tweets you did years ago,’” he went on to say. “Oh my God. Guys, I’m almost 40 years old, if you don’t believe people change, grow evolve as the 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.”
In a caption under the video, Hart wrote: “Stop looking for reasons to be negative.Stop searching for reasons to be angry…I swear I wish you guys could see/feel/understand the mental place that I am in. I am truly happy people.”
“There is nothing that you can do to change that,” Hart went on to say. “NOTHING. I work hard on a daily basis to spread positivity to all…with that being said. If u want to search my history or past and anger yourselves with what u find that is fine with me.”
“I’m almost 40 years old and I’m in love with the man that I am becoming. You LIVE and YOU LEARN & YOU GROW & YOU MATURE. I live to Love…Please take your negative energy and put it into something constructive. Please…What’s understood should never have to be said. I LOVE EVERYBODY….ONCE AGAIN EVERYBODY. If you choose to not believe me then that’s on you…Have a beautiful day,” he concluded.
Hart has been under fire for scrubbing his Twitter account of dozens of old anti-gay tweets since he was tapped as Oscar host earlier this week.
The imbroglio started after Guardian editor Benjamin Lee tweeted out screen grabs of some of Hart’s now-deleted messages on Twitter, including one from 2011 in which he wrote: “Yo if my son comes home & try’s 2 play with my daughters doll house I’m going 2 break it over his head & say n my voice ‘stop that’s gay.”
In another tweet, Hart said someone looked like “a gay bill board for AIDS” and called another person a “FAT F-G.”
GLAAD, the country’s largest LGBTQ media watchdog, told TheWrap in a statement: “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. They have not yet responded.”
Reps for the Academy did not respond to TheWrap’s request for comment.