“I believe in forgiveness. I believe in second chances. And I believe in Kevin Hart.” said DeGeneres
In an emotional appearance on Ellen that will air today, Kevin Hart says he is “evaluating” reclaiming his role as the 2019 Oscars host after Ellen DeGeneres called the Academy to vouch for him following a controversy over past anti-gay tweets.
DeGeneres, revealed that she called the Academy on Thursday because she wanted Hart to host. “I called them, I said, ‘Kevin's on, I have no idea if he wants to come back and host, but what are your thoughts?' And they were like, ‘Oh my God, we want him to host! We feel like that maybe he misunderstood or it was handled wrong. Maybe we said the wrong thing but we want him to host. Whatever we can do we would be thrilled. And he should host the Oscars.'”
“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 said.
On Thursday night, DeGeneres tweeted that Hart's appearance was originally scheduled to air Monday, but that she had decided to move the segment up because she didn't want to sit on it: “I had an incredible and honest conversation with @KevinHart4real about hosting the #Oscars. It was supposed to air on Monday. I don't want you to have to wait, so now it's gonna air tomorrow,” she tweeted.
In this conversation, @KevinHart4real was authentic and real, and I'm in his corner. #OscarsNeedHart https://t.co/nhMwSefrMl
— Ellen DeGeneres (@EllenDeGeneres) January 4, 2019
The interview clips proved divisive on Twitter, with some feeling that DeGeneres was giving Hart a pass for his homophobic comments.
