By Samantha Ofole-Prince/ Photos courtesy of A.M.P.A.S.
Kevin Hart presented at The 88th Oscars® at the Dolby® Theatre in Hollywood, CA on Sunday, February 28, 2016.
Just a day after it was announced the 39-year old comedian would be hosting the 91st Oscars, he has stepped down from the hosting gig.
Hours after he took to twitter to revel in the glory of being the third black host to command the Oscar stage, the internet quickly dug up several more crude and cruel statements from his Twitter feed, some of which included terms like "FAT FAG" and jokes about AIDS.
Hart remained defiant over the criticisms and in an Instagram post from that morning he responded: "Our world is becoming beyond crazy," he complained, "and I'm not gonna let the craziness frustrate me … if you don't believe people change, grow, evolve as they get older, [then] I don't know what to tell you." In the accompanying caption, he wrote, "If u want to search my history or past and anger yourselves with what u find that is fine with me. I'm almost 40 years old and I'm in love with the man I am becoming."
Just a day later after a doomed call from the Academy who handles the annual event, Hart tweeted that he was stepping down as host. Giving his regrets to "the LGBTQ community for my insensitive words from my past," he stepped down as host after blowback over the previous anti-gay tweets and stand-up routines from nearly 10 years ago.
Hart would have been the third black actor to host the Oscars solo joining comedians Chris Rock and Whoopi Goldberg who made history when in 1994 she became the first actor of color to host the Oscars. Several black actors that include Sammy Davis Jr., Diana Ross and Richard Pryor have co-hosted the prestigious show, but only three actors of color have been solo hosts of the award show in Oscar history.
The Academy are yet to confirm who will take Hart's place to host the ceremony which will take place live from the Dolby Theaters in Hollywood Feb. 24, 2019.
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