Nothing to see here! Kevin Hart doesn’t understand why he faced backlash for throwing his son a “Cowboys and Indians”-themed birthday party.
The Night School star, 39, and wife Eniko Parrish came under fire on Thursday, November 22, for sharing Instagram photos of their son, Kenzo Hart, celebrating his first birthday alongside friends dressed in Native American-inspired getups and Western apparel.
Although some fans slammed the soiree as being culturally insensitive and “a terrible idea,” Hart defended the bash on the Wednesday, November 27, episode of his SiriusXM show, Straight From the Hart.
“The reason why I’m even bringing this dumb s—t up is because it shows just how stupid our world is becoming with our opinions,” the comedian said. “People are at a point of an all-time high. To throw racial judgement into the development of a 1-year-old’s birthday party where the theme is ‘Cowboys and Indians’? It’s based around the outfits that are given to the young kids!”
Hart also addressed a commenter who criticized the celebration by comparing it to “a slave owner and a slave party.”
“If you don’t think there’s neighborhoods where they play that game in certain white neighborhoods, then you’re a f—king idiot. You don’t think they had dumbass games like that? As a kid, do we play cops and robbers? As a kid, did you play cowboys and Indians? When you were a child, if you go to stores, you go to look at paraphernalia,” the Jumanji actor explained. “To be a cowboy, you’re buying boots, you’re buying a gun, you’re buying a hat. Some even had a lasso … As a kid, when you played these games, it was based off of the premise from a hypothetical place that was put into our perception for movies.”
He added: “What I’m saying is this isn’t something that just started. This isn’t a racial slur that people are doing or being malicious with. This is a game that’s been played for years.”
Although Parrish, 34, has yet to respond to the controversy, she described the party as “nothing but amazing” via an Instagram post on Thursday.
Hart and Parrish welcomed Kenzo in November 2017 following news of the Secret Life of Pets actor’s infidelity. Hart also shares daughter Haven, 13, and son Hendrix, 11, with ex-wife Torrei Hart.
