Ellen is facing some backlash after coming to Kevin Hart’s defense in the latest chapter of his 2019 Oscar hosting debacle.
TL;DR: Kevin Hart stopped by Ellen’s show, where he opened up about stepping down from the Oscars after decade-old homophobic tweets of his surfaced online. During their conversation, Ellen encouraged Hart to return to the Oscar stage and supported the comedian on Twitter writing, “I believe in second chances.”
People are now criticizing Ellen for stepping in to defend and encourage Hart. Sure the tweets are old, but he also failed to apologize for them earnestly, which is still a point of contention for many.
Ellen is not only publicly defending Hart, but even called the Academy to ask them to reinstate him as the host. “They were like, ‘Oh my God, we want him to host,'" DeGeneres said during the show. "'We feel like maybe it was misunderstood or it was handled wrong or maybe we said the wrong thing, but we want him to host. Whatever we could do, we would be thrilled.’”
Hart is reportedly now considering a return to the Oscars. The criticism for Ellen is two-fold, as she's not only defending Hart, but doing so while shunning voices of queer people who called him out in the first place.
However you feel about this, the only positive way through it is to talk about it. Thank you for being here, @KevinHart4real. ❤️ pic.twitter.com/FVKZ6FIQAx
Ellen didn't directly address the criticism, but she did post a tweet that seemed to at least allude to it. "However you feel about this, the only positive way through it is to talk about it," the account said in a tweet that included a clip of her interview with Hart.
