Like Ellen DeGeneres, I believe in forgiveness – but I'm disappointed she's played to Kevin Hart's victim narrative

Rather than giving him free rein to speak and labelling his critics as 'haters', DeGeneres, with her decades of experience, could have steered the discussion in a more productive direction. Why didn't she?

Before 2019’s Hollywood awards season had even begun, it risked being overshadowed by a controversy surrounding Academy Awards host Kevin Hart.

After his hosting gig was announced, “jokes” made by Hart on Twitter 2011 resurfaced online. Hart, who was set to become the fourth African American to host the biggest night in Hollywood, said that he would “break” a toy over his son’s head if he played with “gay” toys like dolls.

Hart previously addressed these comments, as this was not the first time they had surfaced. But rather than simply issuing a fresh apology, given that such an important gig was at stake, he instead opted to tell his Instagram followers to “stop looking for reasons to be negative”.

As the controversy gained traction due to Hart’s refusal to apologise, he tweeted on 7 December to say that would be withdrawing as a host of the ceremony. He said: “I sincerely apologise to the LGBTQ community for my insensitive words from my past. I'm sorry that I hurt people”.

After Hart’s withdrawal and long overdue apology, the issue disappeared from the headlines until Ellen DeGeneres invited Hart on to The Ellen Show today to discuss it. Openly lesbian DeGeneres tweeted a clip from the interview saying she “believes in forgiveness”, revealing that she called the Academy to ask them to reinstate Hart – a close friend – as host.

During the interview, DeGeneres allowed Hart to speak for almost six minutes completely uninterrupted. He said that hosting the Academy Awards had been a lifelong dream and also revealed that he stood down after being given an “ultimatum” which would have forced him to apologise or face being replaced. Hart claims that he has “grown” in the last 10 years and said he was “sorry if these words hurt”.

DeGeneres is someone who I respect immensely. Recently voted America’s most admired LGBT+ person, her contribution to the LGBT+ community over the years is immeasurable. But that makes it even more disappointing that she chose to indulge Hart’s victim narrative on her show. If hosting the Oscars was truly a lifelong ambition, and he is actually sorry, then why such opposition to apologising again and reaffirming his allyship to the LGBT+ community?

Like DeGeneres, I believe in forgiveness and think that people can change. While the only person who truly knows whether Hart has changed is him, his interview with her indicates that he has not learned from this controversy or tried to interact why people are upset.

In June 2018, a judge sentenced a California mother to life in prison and gave her boyfriend the death penalty in the “beyond animalistic” killing of the woman’s eight-year-old son, who prosecutors say was tortured to death because the couple believed he was gay. Jair Bolsonaro, Brazil’s new far-right president, also recommended hitting children for “acting gay” and said he would rather have a dead son than a gay one. His election has seen a wave of anti-LGBT+ hate crimes across Brazil.

Hart’s “jokes” might seem ridiculous to people who would never contemplate such violence or are unlikely to be victims themselves, but violence against LGBT+ children, particularly boys, is often used as a method of “toughening” them up and policing their behaviour. It is no laughing matter.

While it may be easy to dismiss these tweets as jokes, situations just like this occur all the time. In the worst cases, children’s lives are put at risk. DeGeneres has been open about the difficulties her career has faced because of homophobia, but as a hugely wealthy celebrity living in a Hollywood bubble, she seems to have forgotten about the real life consequences of words like Hart’s.

Just like racism, homophobia is still widespread across western society. Those within black communities often face double marginalisation as they face racism within the LGBT+ community and homophobia within their families and friendship groups.

There is much academic literature that dissects the common perception that African American communities are more hostile towards LGBT+ people than other ethnic groups. As well as the racism of wider society, African American queer people often have to contend with the influence of the church, hypermasculinity and traditional gender norms within their own communities

Hart’s comments are likely a reflection of the multifaceted nature of oppression and the methods people use to cope with them. Of course he is not responsible for speaking for his entire community, but in failing to highlight or address these cultural tensions, he missed an opportunity to turn this furore into a positive or start a meaningful dialogue. Rather than giving him free rein to speak and labelling his critics as “haters”, DeGeneres, with her decades of experience, could have steered the discussion in a more productive direction.

Since these comments resurfaced, there has been no shortage of people calling for Hart to be given a second chance. I wonder whether the same would be said if a white gay Oscar host, such as Neil Patrick Harris, had made violent racist jokes. Would people expressing concern be dismissed so easily? I doubt it – and quite right too.

Following the interview, Hart is said to be reconsidering hosting the ceremony – a bizarre move from someone who withdrew because he didn’t want to steal focus from award recipients. I agree that this should not be a career ender, but comments like this and the insensitive handling of the controversy make him unfit to host the 2019 Academy Awards.

Given the fact that an openly gay man has never won an Academy Award for acting, the Oscars is already a less than welcoming arena. If 2019 is the year that this particular glass ceiling is shattered, it would be a shame if that person – or any other LGBT+ award winner – was overshadowed by Hart’s homophobic comments and failure to adequately take responsibility for them.