Hollywood’s apparent drought of people willing to stand at a podium and crack wise about Leonardo DiCaprio’s haircut continues to drive the discourse this morning, as more and more famous people—including renowned comedian/“advocate for the kind of personal growth where no one’s allowed to yell at you for the homophobic shit you used to say” Kevin Hart—has offered up their feelings on Hart’s now-aborted Oscars-hosting gig.
Hell, even Rob Schneider has now weighed in, despite sharing a profession with the self-ousted Hart in only the most nominal of fashions—and the fact that the closest he’s ever come to the Academy Awards was the time a poster for Deuce Bigalow: European Gigolo got slapped up too close to L.A.’s Dolby Theater. Schneider—who also offered up his support this week to Louis CK, and is obviously angling for some sort of terrible comedian hot take hat trick—somehow managed to work in references to “safe spaces,” de Tocqueville, and a “funny” Asian accent into his message of support for Hart, which is actually kind of impressive, in a “Rob Schneider is awful” sort of way.
But the Real Rob was only one of several voices speaking out about Hart’s hypothetical gig this weekend; CNN’s Don Lemon took some time on CNN Tonight last night to deliver a direct request for compassion and reflection to Hart. Despite failing to namecheck any 19th century French diplomats, Lemon’s appeal to Hart was clear, concise, and clearly heartfelt: “Kevin, if anything this is the time to hear other people out, to hear why they might have been offended. I don’t see any meaningful outreach to the community…. and now you want the conversation to end.” He also noted that there’s nothing helpful about Hart’s decision to continuously frame himself as the victim in this situation, an assertion that Hart seems to have responded to by publicly playing the victim yet again.
Indeed, Hart posted yet another one of his vaguely worded Instagram responses this morning, suggesting that all professions—including, pointedly, “a news anchor or journalist”—need time to learn and grow into their jobs. “When did we get to the point where we forgot that we all learn, then we all have the ability to grow and with that growth comes a wealth of knowledge?” he asked, although we feel moved to note that Hart—who was a young, strapping lad of all of 30 when he made jokes about beating up his kid if he caught him having a “gay moment”—isn’t being criticized because his material wasn’t polished or his delivery experienced enough; he’s getting called out for saying homophobic things, which doesn’t feel like a “work it out on stage” sort of issue. It also seems pretty clear that he’s disinterested in expressing even the merest amount of contrition for his primary part in this whole debacle, i.e., the extremely low bar the Academy has reportedly set (per Variety) for him to potentially come back and save them from the hostless void.
Hart also neglected to mention his presumed delight at having secured Rob Schneider’s vote of support.