Ellen DeGeneres went from trailblazer to firebrand today, with some fans feeling betrayed that she forgave Kevin Hart for his past homophobic comments and encouraged him to take back the 2019 Oscars hosting gig he gave up when those comments resurfaced in December — especially after his initial refusal to cough up any further apology.
Even more controversially, DeGeneres used the word “haters” to describe Hart’s critics during her interview with the comic on the January 4 episode of her talk show.
Related: Ellen DeGeneres reveals the one little word she was forbidden from saying on TV
“There are so many haters out there,” DeGeneres, a two-time Oscar host herself, told Hart. “Whatever’s going on on the internet, don’t pay attention to them. That’s a small group of people being very, very loud. We are a huge group of people who love you and want to see you host the Oscars … As a gay person, I’m sensitive to all of that. And I talked to you about this. And you have already expressed that it’s not being educated on the subject, not realizing how dangerous those words are, not realizing how many kids are killed for being gay or beaten up every day. You have grown. You have apologized. You are apologizing again right now. You’ve done it.”
How about we take this to the next level?
Our newsletter is like a refreshing cocktail (or mocktail) of LGBTQ+ entertainment and pop culture, served up with a side of eye-candy.
But Twitter users weren’t having it. See their outrage and dismay in the tweets below:
https://twitter.com/RyanHoulihan/status/1081087825691492352
this whole ellen/kevin hart thing is a perfect example of how privilege and constant praise distorts a person’s reality so much that they perceive any criticism, however valid, to be an attack on their entire livelihood
— ellie ? (@eleanorbate) January 4, 2019
I expected Ellen to actually ask Kevin Hart some sort of challenging question. Anything, really. But instead, it was just one long monologue from Kevin interspersed with Ellen’s approval. That interview made me miss the previous talk show hosts that asked tough questions.
— deray (@deray) January 4, 2019
Ellen’s show is basically the embodiment of respectability politics, so using it as a platform to absolve Kevin Hart on our behalf sounds pretty much on brand. Her sitcom allowed her to do something radical, which she suffered for, & she’s been running away from that ever since.
— Laurence Barber ? (@laurencesmb) January 4, 2019
Ellen had the opportunity to hold Kevin Hart accountable for what he said about the LGBTQ+ community but instead she gave him the space to make himself out to be the fucking victim when he was the one who made vicious comments on Twitter.
— ????? ?? (@MJFINESSELOVER) January 4, 2019
https://twitter.com/HarryCook/status/1081112713546235904
https://twitter.com/adambvary/status/1081121826707693568
https://twitter.com/adambvary/status/1081121828284682240
remember when ellen did that NYT interview last month and feared she was out of touch? yeah. https://t.co/FXpOMxXLwe
— David Mack (@davidmackau) January 4, 2019
Ellen: “The gays forgive Kevin Hart and want him back”
The Gays: pic.twitter.com/EftBNR8dti
— Bromoish (@Bromoish) January 4, 2019
For her part, DeGeneres seemingly addressed the backlash on Twitter later that same day, tweeting, “I believe in forgiveness. I believe in second chances. And I believe in @KevinHart4real.”
Related: Billy Porter slams Kevin Hart and his homophobic supporters in epic takedown
In another tweet, she wrote, “In this conversation, @KevinHart4real was authentic and real, and I’m in his corner. #OscarsNeedHart”
And in a third: “However you feel about this, the only positive way through it is to talk about it. Thank you for being here, @KevinHart4real.”
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 DeGeneres (@EllenDeGeneres) January 4, 2019
The 91st Academy Awards, which as of press time is still missing a host, airs on Sunday, February 24, at 8 p.m. ET on ABC.
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iowadude
Hey, I don’t recall electing her (or anyone!) to speak for us. And she is seriously *not* qualified to do so after this bullshit
Lucas23
It’s quite easy to go after a black man. Ellen it’s right, just ignore the racist trolls using him as scapegoat.
CMarks
The generalization that those “attacking” Hart are racist is as wrong as the assumption that all of us doing so are white.
Creamsicle
Hart was criticized for the content of his character in the form of this own words on Twitter, and not the color of his skin.
Vince
Every side has a point but calling the people who brought this to our attention haters is totally missing the point.
Maybe next she should have Roseanne Barr on. I’m sure she’s sorry too that she lost her show and and unlike hart she’d actually apologize. Oh that’s right. She’d lose most of her audience if she did that.
Donston
Yes, social media outrage and group-think can get out of hand. But I also don’t like how modern media often takes complicated sociological issues and looks to whittle them down to basic things like “haters” and “let’s forgive and forget”. It often forgoes any responsibility, tough questions and confrontation, which in turn doesn’t really help educate anyone or bring anyone together. A certain percentage of the “gay community” attacking a successful and seemingly harmless straight black male is a bad look in this current environment. So, Ellen wanted to quickly move on from the discomfort rather than confront it.
I ultimately don’t care all that much about any of this. But is any one of these interviewers going to ask about the tweet where he threatened to hurt his son if he ever said he was gay? That was nobody’s “joke”.
batesmotel
Roseanne did apologize. Over and over and over and over and over again. It didn’t matter. Which is why it won’t matter if Kevin Hart apologizes. You’ll still have a problem. It’s who you are.
Geeker
Sorry Ellen but only people who are sorry for the mistakes they’ve made deserve forgiveness, also despite what you may believe you weren’t elected to speak for the entire gay community.
justgeo
Forgiveness does not erase accountability which is what Ellen did not hold the man too. Ignorance is no excuse for threats or abuse.
CMarks
Ellen has recently expressed her desire to end her long running talk show. There was considerable backlash to her announcement from fans, many of whom are member of the LGBTQ community. Maybe this was some sort of effort on the part of DeGeneres to convince her audience it’s time to let her go. If Ellen wants to forgive Hart that’s her decision but she is only speaking for herself. Hart’s career will survive without doing the Oscar’s so leave we’ll enough alone.
rray63
Ellen is setting herself up as arbiter of all things good. Why didn’t she come to James Gunn’s defense over his 10+ year old tweets. Tasteless tweets, heck yes, illegal, no. Offensive, in the extreme. But according to Ellen everyone deserves a second chance, right? I’m not sure I want her making decisions for our community. Time for people to take responsibility for their actions. Gunn did, he said what he did was not in line with Disney standards and never fought them on the firing, maybe he should.
dean089
It’s simple, Ellen is representing her people: wealthy entertainers. Yeah, sure, she’s a woman and she’s a gay person, but those are secondary. She has no more in common with the average gay woman than Kevin Hart does with the average black man. They are wealthy entertainers, they stick together.
rray63
Dean089, you said a mouthful.
OzJosh
Ellen has always been ready to whitewash the likes of Kanye and Catelyn Jenner, while relentlessly promoting trash celebs like the Kardashians. Flinging the odd cheque at worthy causes doesn’t really absolve her of being a largely negative force.
Aidanf
Doubtful that Oprah would have hosted Roseanne on tv so that Roseanne could get her own show back,
Doubtful that Oprah would have assumed it was her place to decide on forgiveness on behalf of the African-American community.
Doubtful that Oprah would so glibly forgive a fellow celebrity for saying terrible things against black or gay people or any oppressed groups.
So why is Nick Cannon saying it’s ok for Kevin Hart to make bigoted comments or “jokes” about the LGBTQ community?
And why is Ellen championing this hate?
Why is the LGBTQ community expected to turn the other cheek just because a bigot from another oppressed group of people made the remarks?
The dignity and respect of the LGBTQ community is worth far more than the career of a bigot, or of the entertainment industry’s misguided attempt to make amends to the African American community by hiring Kevin Hart as an awards host.
The LGBTQ community is in a shaky period after having made so much progress. We cannot allow our equality to be taken away from those on the left as much as those on the right.
Kevin and his enablers of LGBTQ denigration must be held accountable – we cannot rollover for power and celebrity.
Paulie P
so she calls the academy and say hi its ellen.. i want him to host and they say we do to….. like the f’ing academy couldn’t have made that phone call on their own a month ago,,,,,,,f off ellen. your show is stale and you just lost viewers..
ricdardc1
” When was she elected as The Speaker of The House, for The Gay Queer, Bi-sexual, Transgender Community. *I will not let this Faux Pas go. You Fu*ked Up. Given Your Rich Status. you feel you can speak for Us Haters, Bit*h Please. You need to Get this STRAIGHT, because, You do not speak for me, & by the way where was the segment of Those who are Hurt viscously for these kinds of thinking, you sure gave This Man his …”Come To Yeezus,” … moment. You are not Above Us so don’t act like you are.
Daws
Ellen just strikes me as pompous. I liked when she was the Disney fish. That’s about it.
TheMarc
I have been going back and forth on this; but Don Lemon’s speech on this topic brought a lot of clarification to this and why there is still yet a bridge to be traveled across for Kevin Hart before he is worthy of proper forgiveness.
I wish Queerty had deemed it as important to report on as the majority straight thirst-trappy, Instastuds of the week and this very story; but ya know…”mainstream” gay media.
nitejonboy
I used to support her, but that support ends now. She’s clearly only thinking with her money. She should go back to playing cartoon fish.
justsimple
She is just another hypocrite.
What’s ironic is Hollywood feels they are in touch with middle America but they hide in closets and deny casting couches exists. They also only forgive certain people.
Ellen just focus on your talk show and don’t forgive based on something that is not about you.
Bob LaBlah
Ellen I applaud you for what you did. This has to stop some where because the show must go on and regardless of whether we like Kevin or not he is the only one that didnt run in the other direction when asked to host the show. There were no blockbuster, must see movies in 2018 so the audience isn’t expected to be large so the best way for the gay community to get even is simply not watch. Its called show BUSINESS folks. Its just that simple. Get over it.
Donston
The dude isn’t going to host the Oscars. He already publicly quit and whined. At this point it’s a pride thing for both Kevin and the Oscar producers. And Kevin hosting the Oscar at this point would do no one any good and likely wouldn’t mean much for the ratings. Blockbusters like Black Panther getting a few nods might help and hits like A Star is Born and Bohemian Rhapsody will likely get some love, but mass culture has moved on the Oscars. There really aren’t any movies or hosts that can save it. Ellen did what she did not to get him to agree to host but to be a peacemaker and to show that she is above holding grudges. But her approach was f-ed up and generally condescending.
jjose712
Her approach was a disaster because she didn’t asked the questions she needed to ask, that would make her less kiiss ass and bring him an oportunity of made amends. Nothing of that happened.
In the end she is the only one getting bashed (and in my opinion she deserved it) and she will be bashed even more when he release his next film and it’ll be full of the same homophobic jokes
JessPH
When exactly did Kevin Hart apologize? He only apologized after those past tweets were revealed. And shame on Ellen for calling his critics as mere haters or trolls. Criticisms against Kevin Hart (and every comedian who ridicules LGBTs) are valid. Their homophobic jokes are contributing to society’s shameful culture of homophobia that is making LGBT youth more prone to being bullied and harassed.
DHT
Metaphorically, being hit over the head with a dollhouse, is exactly what masculine gay men feel entitled to do to feminine gay men. That feeling of superiority and the behavior that comes from emanates from their own internalized homophobia, so yeah…I get where Kevin Hart is coming from too.
Vince
Wow that was a real reach-around analogy. Except it’s dumb as f*ck.
jkb
He claims he apologized already so shouldn’t have to again.,if he were truly sorry, he would apologize again for good measure and make it sincere.?Why he has to make this so difficult is frustrating
Kieran
If Kevin Hart was a White man who made lesbians the target of his “jokes”, Ellen would never have given him a platform on her program, much less sat there passively while he pontificated about being the victim of the “Gay Mafia”. Hang your head in shame Ellen.
djmcgamester
When did forgiveness become a crime? The guy quit as host for the Oscars. That’s what you all wanted so move on. “Gay Twitter”, whatever that is, needs to recognize that we’re not all paragons of perfection like they are. Grow up. I remember working at a job where a couple of guys were making homophobic remarks (one along the lines “if my kid were gay…”). I told them – to their faces – that I was gay I didn’t want to hear anymore talk like that. I never did hear it from them again. And guess what? We got along just fine.
Let’s be honest, though. Ellen is the “bigger man” than all of those whiners. She’s capable of moving past his behavior. That’s a sign of being an adult, not some petulant child who cries over not getting their way.
Prowelsh56
I agree with Adam vary: those who shared this tirade are not ” haters.” The simply exposed this. AS for Comedians having a right to saying a anything Louis K also…I don’t not support vitriol that raises a laugh at someone else’s expense. That’s just cheap comedy to me. I gave up watching Ellen many months ago, as her show was just one big advertisement. She was very much a pioneer and I will give her that. BUT now to say those who are reminding Hart of his hurtful words is way out of the ballpark. I think we have to be very careful about the influences of celebrity in America’s social consciousness. She certainly does not speak for all. HART should speak for himself clearly and emphatically. We all grow of course – now let him start the dialog not ignore ALL the true haters out there.
iauajo
I didn’t get the memo where we voted Ellen to be our spokesperson. If he wants the job so BAD,as he says he does, apologize again! I’m hearing how tired he is of apologizing, but I have yet to hear a heartfelt act of contrition. Man up!
Mitchell Talley
Ellen thinks she’s the gay pope!
batesmotel
Twitter sounds like the majority, but people are finding out it’s more the minority. They just scream louder that it sounds like a lot of people. Everyone I’ve talked to thinks this whole Kevin Hart thing is blown out of proportion. If he were anti-gay he wouldn’t be hanging out with Ellen. An anti-gay person would never do that or go on that show. He certainly wasn’t doing that to get his job back at the Oscars as he doesn’t want it. But I do agree he should say the words, “I’m not anti-gay. I would never beat my son if I found out he was gay. That’s not how I think anymore.” I don’t know why he’s having such a hard time saying that to move things along. Although, if he did say that, it won’t satisfy the whining crazies out there. They’ll still make a fuss about it. It’s what they do. They live for drama.