Actor and comedian Kevin Hart believes that the Oscars are “very cold” environments for comedians. In a recent interview with Sky News, Hart also revealed that he would never host the prestigious award show.
Kevin Hart was chosen as the host for the 2019 Oscars. However, he got fired from the Academy after some of his anti-gay tweets surfaced on social media, for which he also publicly apologized.
In his interview, Hart declared that the Oscars were not “comedy-friendly environments anymore”. He also gave shoutouts to comedians like Ricky Gervais, Tina Fey, Billy Crystal, Amy Poehler, and Chris Rock for “cracking the code and doing it [hosting] right early on”. This is what he said:
“Whatever little hope you had, I want to destroy it right now. 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.”
Kevin Hart’s comments have emerged after the recently concluded 2024 Golden Globes. While the rest of the event looked okay, its ultimate flaw was its host, Jo Koy. The comedian’s jokes were unfunny and fell flat. Many have already put him on the list of worst Golden Globes hosts. Koy came under fire for one particular joke. He joked about Oppenheimer being made from a Pulitzer Prize-winning book, Barbie, on the other hand, was a flick about “a plastic doll with big boobies”.
Yes, many comedians have been criticised for their poor taste in jokes at award shows. For instance, we cannot forget Seth MacFarlane’s hosting in 2013 for the 85th Oscars. The Family Guy creator faced the wrath of entire Hollywood and viewers due to his highly controversial and creepy song-and-dance number (titled “We Saw Your Boobs”) at the event. In that number, he picked out those actresses who went naked in the films. That type of performance will surely not work in today’s time. Neil Patrick Harris also faced severe criticism in 2017 while hosting the 87th Oscars for his jokes about the lack of Black nominees.
It is good that events like the Oscars have become more hostile for comedians, as they keep hosts under control and accountable for inappropriate behaviour. Just because they are comedians, they cannot say anything about anyone. Comedians need to take a good look at the “very cold” environments before trying to land their jokes, as millions of people (including children) watch these environments every year. Stay tuned for more updates.
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