About a dozen years ago (or at least, that’s how long it feels, although it was actually 2019), Kevin Hart pulled out of his Oscars hosting gig after resurfaced tweets prompted a backlash. Hart later admitted that he “did f*ck up,” but let’s just say that Hart isn’t feeling too badly about what happened a few years ago. In fact, the comedian’s feeling unexpectedly good. Rather than make like Seth Rogen, who astutely suggested that comedians should accept their jokes didn’t age well, though, Hart is telling cancel culture proponents to stuff it.
In a new Sunday Times profile (to promote Hart’s family film, Fatherhood, that’s coming out this upcoming weekend on Netflix), Hart appears to be taking an unaffected stance, and that’s possibly because he’s still attracting major eyeballs for Netflix. His Zero F*cks Given comedy special was reportedly Netflix’s most viewed entry of that category in 2020, and he’s now discussing how he’s been “cancelled” multiple times, yet his career kept on trucking. From the Sunday Times:
“I mean, I personally don’t give a sh*t about it,” he says of cancel culture. His raised eyebrows suggest he really means that too. “If somebody has done something truly damaging then, absolutely, a consequence should be attached. But when you just talk about… nonsense?” He flicks his hand dismissively. “When you’re talking, ‘Someone said! They need to be taken [down]!’ Shut the f*** up! What are you talking about?” On stage he is full of movement, and he is now chopping at the air wildly. It feels like the start of a routine. Except he’s deadly serious.
Hart also stresses that he feels as though he’s grown as a person, and he wants to know, “When did we get to a point where life was supposed to be perfect? Where people were supposed to operate perfectly all the time?” He adds that everyone messes up, and he makes allowances for that when it comes to kids, family, friends, co-workers, employees, and so on. The “last I checked, the only way you grow up is from f***ing up,” he says. “I don’t know a kid who hasn’t f***ed up or done some dumb sh*t.” Hart adds that everyone is capable of changing, and his stance certainly isn’t the more reflective perspective that we saw from Seth Rogen, but it appears to be working out for Hart. We’ll see whether audiences are interested in his dramatic turn when Fatherhood streams on Netflix (beginning June 18).
(Via The Sunday Times)