Renowned comedian and Hollywood star Kevin Hart has disclosed that he will never host the Oscars because the platform is not a comedy-friendly one.
He noted that his perspective was not an assault on the Academy, but rather that it was not advantageous to comedians.
“Whatever little hope you had, I want to destroy it right now. Those gigs aren’t good gigs for comics. It’s no shot to the Oscars, no shot to the Globes, or anything else. Those just aren’t comedy-friendly environments anymore. I think they got it right one year, when it was a bunch of personalities acting as the hosts, and that’s a nice thing. It’s a collaborative thing; different people get to be responsible for act one, two, and three, but you know, the days of it being a room for a comic, those days are done,” he explained.
The award-winning actor had nothing but admiration for other comedians who excelled as award-show hosts. However, he pointed out that artists with existing contacts in the industry gain more from the gig than those without.
“Shout out to those that have cracked the code and done it right early on, you know, the Chris Rocks of the world, the Billy Crystals of the world, the girls we’ve had like Tina Fey, Amy Poehler. Ricky Gervais. There are a lot of people that understand that if you’re not an industry comic, meaning a comic that has the relationships of all, then those rooms are very cold.
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“So, me doing it is, of course, at an advantage, because I know the room and for me, and familiar with so many. But, for others it’s not the same. It’s not the gig that it was of old. It’s too much pressure on the idea of a comic and what’s jokes and not jokes. So, it’s tough,” he disclosed.
Kevin Hart has previously hosted the BET Awards, the MTV Movie Awards, and the MTV Video Music Awards. The Ride Along star was chosen to host the 2019 Academy Awards, but he was unable to do so due to criticism. Hart went viral around that time after some of his previous homophobic tweets and stand-up routines surfaced. While Kevin’s public image rebounded, he swore off hosting from that point forward.