Not here for it. Jonathan Van Ness didn’t approve of Ellen DeGeneres having Kevin Hart on her show to discuss his Oscars controversy.
Hart, 39, who stepped down in December from hosting the 91st Academy Awards after his homophobic tweets resurfaced, addressed the scandal on the Friday, January 4, episode of The Ellen DeGeneres Show. DeGeneres, 60, encouraged Hart to reconsider his decision, which apparently didn’t sit well with Van Ness.
“Nothing like enabling someone to mansplain why they’re [sic] homophobic past comments paired w defensive irritated half apologies are totally fabulous!” the Queer Eye star, 31, tweeted on Wednesday, January 9, alongside a clip of Hart and DeGeneres hashing it out. “Gay Men of color in this country face HUGE STIGMA caused by this behavior. Ellen gurl. Not cool.”
He added: “There are so many amazing queer comedians especially of color who are much better suited for this job and actually… funny.”
Hart came under fire for his old tweets, including one from 2011 in which he said that if his son ever played with a dollhouse, he would deem the behavior “gay” and break the toy over his son’s head. During his heart-to-heart with DeGeneres, who has hosted the Oscars twice, the Night School actor apologized for his insensitive tweets — and DeGeneres forgave him.
“As a gay person … I am sensitive to all of that and I talked to you about this,” she told him. “And you have already expressed that it’s not being educated on the subject, not realizing how dangerous those words are, not realizing how many kids are killed for being gay or beaten up every day. You have grown. You have apologized.”
The Upside actor spoke out about the ordeal again on Wednesday, January 9, telling Good Morning America’s Michael Strahan that he is “over it” and will absolutely not host the star-studded awards show. “There’s no more conversation about it,” he explained. “I’m over that, I’m over the moment.”
Us Weekly has reached out to DeGeneres for comment.
The Academy Awards will air on ABC on Sunday, February 24 at 8 p.m. ET.
