Ever since Kevin Hart bowed out from his upcoming gig as host of the Oscars, it might be a bit of an understatement to assess that the Academy has struggled to find his replacement.
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As such, much like the ain’t shit boyfriend who comes home with roses and Sade tickets in tow, it appears that Kevin is attempting to leave his nights on the couch in the past and rekindle his romance with the Academy Awards.
And while Ellen Degeneres is all too willing to facilitate Kevin’s triumphant return to mainstream acceptance, CNN anchor Don Lemon is demanding a little more than an a half-ass apology and some deleted tweets.
On his news show “CNN Tonight”, Lemon spent his Friday night undressing Hart’s perceived victimhood in light of the immense backlash he received for his previous homophobic tweets, as well as taking Ellen to task for throwing on the cape and attempting to rescue Hart from himself.
“Someone like Kevin Hart, with one of the biggest megaphones in the entire world, he can be a leader […] He can help change homophobia in the black community, something Kevin’s old twitter jokes addressed but in the wrong way,” Lemon said.
And about that whole “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’” thing?
“That was a joke to Kevin. The truth is, that is a reality for many little boys in the United States […] Somewhere a black dad is beating his black son,” Lemon said. “Those views of the LGBT people in the black community have consequences.”
Lemon also called into question the lack of “any meaningful outreach to the LGBT community. Nothing that you have spoken on.” While later in the show, GLAAD president Sarah Kate Ellis co-signed Lemon’s sentiment—confirming that repeated invitations to Hart’s reps have been ignored, though they remain open to working with him in the future.
“For many in the gay community, especially in the black community, the Twitter apologies on ‘Ellen’ have fallen flat,” Lemon said. We would go on to dismiss Hart’s appearance on Ellen as self-serving and “insincere”, as well as Kevin “somehow turns himself into a victim instead of acknowledging the real victims of violent and sometimes deadly homophobia.”
On “Ellen”, Hart dismissed the nearly decade-old tweets as nothing new, “It’s 10 years old. This is stuff I’ve addressed. I’ve talked about this. This isn’t new. I’ve addressed it. I’ve apologized for it.”
Well, sure. He’s addressed it. But apologies? Genuine contrition? As Vulture proved in a hunt for exactly that, good luck finding any.
The CNN host also offered some startling statistics: That according to the Center for American Progress, 44 percent of homeless gay youth and 62 percent of homeless transgendered youth are black—despite the fact that black people comprise a mere 12 percent of the U.S. population.
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