Kevin Hart Reflects on Aftermath of Oscars Controversy: “I Was Immature”

In his new Netflix documentary-series, released Friday, the comedian chronicles the backlash he endured after stepping down as host: “What I thought was going to blow over ended up becoming a bigger mess than I expected.”

Kevin Hart is ready to tell all. 

In the comedian’s new six-part Netflix documentary series Kevin Hart: Don’t F–k This Up, released Friday, Hart gets candid about a myriad of controversial moments that have occurred in his life and career, including his father’s drug use, the cheating scandal with his wife, the looming extortion video and stepping down from being the Oscars host. 

Cameras documented the backlash the comedian faced after old tweets surfaced in which Hart expressed anti-gay sentiments and used homophobic terminology and slurs. Despite his team advising him that his approach in addressing the controversy was wrong, Hart begged to differ at the time. 

“You need to learn how to stop and think,” Hart’s publicist is shown discussing with a team member. “He’s not used to being the person that’s not loved and cherished.” His publicist is also overhead saying the comedian needed to take a “humility pill.” 

Despite the comedian being put in hot water, the docuseries showed his team members frustrated with how his actions ultimately put them in a difficult position. “He needs to just shut up and put his head down for the next few weeks…. What he needs to remember is he’s feeding 50-60 people. When he takes a shitter, everybody takes a shitter and that’s a big issue now,” his publicist said. 

Nine days after stepping down from being the Oscars host, Hart set up an emergency meeting at his Hartbeat Productions company, where he continued to emphasize that he didn’t want to keep addressing the controversy because it would be “making it OK to go backward.” “I don’t want to go backward. I just want to go forward,” Hart told his team. 

Despite attempting to make peace with an appearance on The Ellen DeGeneres Show, Hart continued to cause frustrations in the public eye with his comments. “What I thought was going to blow over ended up becoming a bigger mess than I expected,” Hart said. 

“Everybody is telling me my approach is wrong…. There’s a lot of cooks in the kitchen but there’s only one person in the hot water,” he explained, adding that being labeled homophobic kept building his frustrations and ultimately got under his skin. 

Exhausted with continuously being asked to speak about the Oscars, Hart said he “just couldn’t do it anymore” when he made an appearance on Good Morning America. “I got on there and I just gave a very direct answer to the question I knew I was going to get,” Hart said of his “I’m over it” response. 

“What I thought that was going to do, it did not do. The complete opposite happened.” 

Looking back at the controversy, Hart explains, “what I thought it was it wasn’t, and my approach to dealing with it because of the assumption that I had is just wrong.” After speaking with close friends and taking time to reflect, the comedian admitted that he “missed an opportunity.” 

“I missed an opportunity to say simply that I don’t condone any type of violence in any way, shape or form to anyone for being who they are. I f—ed up…. Instead I said, ‘I addressed it.’ I said, ‘I apologized.’ I said, ‘I talked about this already.’ I was just immature.”

Cameras rolled as Hart and his wife discussed the backlash, with Hart admitting he now has no problem in “saying I was wrong,” something he refused to do in the past. “You’re not Superman. You’re not invincible. You don’t know everything. Your way is not always the right way. Sometimes it’s very valuable to stop for a second and assess. I know the things that I could’ve done better. I have no problem in saying I was wrong,” Hart said. He also expressed regret for putting his team in an uncomfortable situation and hurting them. “I got to see the bad in being defiant and not listening.” 

“You can’t do it by yourself. You don’t let them do their jobs by being the defiant. When you’re wrong it’s going to hurt because you’re going to look back and go, ‘fuck, I should’ve listened.'”

To express gratitude to his team, he gifted each of his team members and friends classic cars.

Apart from the Oscars scandal, Hart addresses other controversial moments throughout the docuseries, including Jonathan Todd Jackson, the man accused of trying to extort Hart with a sex tape made without the actor’s knowledge, a devastating moment for the comedian as Jackson was described as a member of his close group of friends.

“To this day there’s still a piece of me that’s like, ‘there’s no way,'” Hart emotionally said. “You’re speaking in an alleged format but what I was able to take from it was the same hurt that I caused, that individual being my wife, that same level of pain came right back to me. it sucks that what happened happened, but now your eyesight is even more clear.” 

Hart’s wife shared that the comedian was in tears over the betrayal, with his close friends assuring that no new faces would ever join their group.

Hart also discussed the pain and heartbreak he felt after the 2017 cheating scandal. “You can think you got it all together. Something stupid can happen that can take it all away like that,” he said.

Throughout the series, stars such as Chris Rock, Samuel L. Jackson and Jimmy Fallon make appearances. Chadwick Boseman and Idris Elba also make appearances as they met with Hart to discuss joining his hopes for a remake of Uptown Saturday Night. Tiffany Haddish also makes an appearance as she and Hart embark on a press tour for Night School. 

hollywoodreporter.com