by Mary Spiller
January 13, 2024
Hart was almost the host of the 91st Oscars but was forced out of it after making homophobic comments online.
Kevin Hart has officially told fans that he will never go for hosting the Oscars again after his scandal five years ago resulted in his removal from being its emcee. While opening up Thursday’s episode of Watch What Happens Live With Andy Cohen, he told the Jan 11 audience that “there is no upside at this point” to trying for it again.
During the Bravo interview, the 44 year old comedian told Cohen that him being a host for the Oscars “is not going to happen.”
“Kill the idea of it, it’s not going to happen,” Hart stated,” There’s just no return of good. What is it doing for me? There’s no upside at this point. That’s the only reason why.”
Back in 2018, Hart was set to be the host for the 91st annual Oscars, but was tanked after homophobic comments he made in the past came to light. The Academy Awards then was left with no host after Hart had to step down.
55 year old Cohen acknowledged the weight of the job for comedians particularly, citing Richard Pryor, Billy Crystal, Whoopi Goldberg, Jon Stewart, and Chris Rock as those who took on what “Some would call it a thankless job.”
“Some would,” Hart agreed. “But you can’t discredit the stage that the Oscars presents. It’s a phenomenal stage, with millions of views attached to it.”
The Ride Along actor continued, “I think at a point of time in my career, it was something that acted as a bump and want, just to get a notch in my belt of something else that I was able to obtain and view. But I’m far beyond and past that. But I don’t need that at this point.”
Hart reiterated his intentions to never host the Oscars again in an interview the next day with Sky News.
He told the outlet “Whatever little hope you had, I want to destroy it right now,” he told the outlet. “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… The days of it being a room for a comic, those days are done.”
