TheQuartering [6/15/2021]
Kevin Hart finally pushes back.
Kevin Hart isn’t afraid to share his opinion on cancel culture, after being on the receiving end during controversial moments in his career.
In a new interview with the Sunday Times, the 41-year-old actor and comedian bared his opinions on the topics, saying, “I personally don’t give a s— about it.”
“If somebody has done something truly damaging then, absolutely, a consequence should be attached. But when you just talk about … nonsense?” he continued. “When you’re talking, ‘Someone said! They need to be taken [down]!’ Shut the f— up! What are you talking about?”
Hart, who stars in the upcoming father-daughter movie Fatherhood, said, “When did we get to a point where life was supposed to be perfect? Where people were supposed to operate perfectly all the time? I don’t understand.”
“I don’t expect perfection from my kids. I don’t expect it from my wife, friends, employees,” he continued. “Because, last I checked, the only way you grow up is from f—ing up. I don’t know a kid who hasn’t f—ed up or done some dumb s—.”
Hart then touched on his own experiences with cancel culture, telling the Times, “I’ve been cancelled, what, three or four times? Never bothered. If you allow it to have an effect on you, it will. Personally? That’s not how I operate. I understand people are human. Everyone can change.”
He continued, “It’s like jail. People get locked up so they can be taught a lesson. When they get out, they are supposed to be better. But if they come out and people go, ‘I’m not giving you a job because you were in jail’ – then what the f— did I go to jail for? That was my punishment – how do you not give those people a shot? They’re saying that all life should be over because of a mistake? Your life should end and there should be no opportunity to change? What are you talking about? And who are you to make that decision?”
Hart recently faced controversy in 2018, when he was announced as the host for the 2019 Academy Awards.
Backlash quickly followed the announcement, with Twitter users resurfacing past homophobic tweets Hart had posted nearly a decade before, along with a controversial stand-up joke he made about the gay community.
In February 2020, Hart told Men’s Health he now understood why people were so upset over his previous remarks on social media.
“With the whole Oscars thing, there was a big gap between what I thought the problem was versus what the problem really was,” he said. “I got ten years where I made sure not to joke or play in the way that I did back then because it was a problem.”
He added, “I don’t care if you’re gay or not gay. I’m a people person. I’m going to love you regardless. It wasn’t until close friends like Wanda Sykes, Lee Daniels and Ellen DeGeneres talked to me and explained what they didn’t hear me say that I understood. Then I was like, ‘Oh s—, I did f— up.’ “
In Hart’s 2010 comedy special Seriously Funny, he told the audience, “One of my biggest fears is my son growing up and being gay. That’s a fear.”