Los Angeles: Actress Jamie Lee Curtis slammed actor-comedian Kevin Hart’s response to his resurfaced homophobic tweets.
On Thursday, just hours after Hart, 39, offered a response to his past homophobic tweets, which resurfaced following the news that he was hosting the 91s Academy Awards, Curtis, 60, took a jab at the comedian on Twitter, reports people.com.
“Homophobia is not positivity,” the “Halloween” star wrote in reference to Hart’s statement, in which he said, “All I do is spread positivity.”
Actor and comedian Billy Eichner also took aim at Hart, but with a little bit of humour, tweeting, “I’m beginning to think I may not be in Night School 2.”
“A simple, authentic apology showing any bit of understanding or remorse would have been so simple. Like I tweeted a few weeks ago, Hollywood still has a real problem with gay men. On the surface it may not look like it. Underneath, it’s far more complicated,” the “Billy on the Street” host tweeted on a more serious note.
“Wow. Just…wow. Does he realise he signed up to host the Oscars? You wanna tweet “jokes” about gay bashing your own son I guess that’s your choice but at the very least, know your audience!”
Their comments came after Hart shared a video of himself lying in bed on Instagram, addressing the since-deleted tweets.
“I swear man our world is becoming beyond crazy,” Hart said in the clip. “I’m not going to let the craziness frustrate me or anger me especially when I worked hard to get to the mental space that I am at now.”
Hart continued, “My team calls me, ‘Oh my God, Kevin, the world is upset about tweets you did years ago.’ Oh my God. Guys, I’m almost 40 years old. If you don’t believe that people grow, change, evolve as they get older, I don’t know what to tell you.”
“If you want to hold people in a position where they always have to justify or explain their past – then do you,” he added. “I’m the wrong guy, man. I’m in a great place, a great mature place where all I do is spread positivity. If you’re not doing that, you’re not on my page.”
In a follow-up post, Hart explained he was asked to apologise by the Academy, but decided to pass at the time – ultimately risking his hosting gig.
“I chose to pass, I passed on the apology. Reason why I passed is because I’ve addressed this several times. This is not the first time this has come up. I’ve addressed it. I’ve spoken on it. I’ve said where the rights and wrongs were. I’ve said who I am now versus who I was then. I’ve done it. I’ve done it,” Hart continued.
“The same energy that went into finding those old tweets could be the same energy put into finding the responses to the questions that have been asked years after years. We’re feeding the internet trolls and we reward them. I’m not going to do it man. I’m going to be me and stand my ground,” Hart said.
In the hours after that post, the comedian finally revealed that he would be stepping aside from the prestigious gig and delivered an apology.
“I have made the choice to step down from hosting this year’s Oscars.this is because I do not want to be a distraction on a night that should be celebrated by so many amazing talented artists. I sincerely apologize to the LGBTQ community for my insensitive words from my past,” he tweeted, reports people.com.
“I’m sorry that I hurt people.. I am evolving and want to continue to do so. My goal is to bring people together not tear us apart. Much love & appreciation to the Academy. I hope we can meet again.”
Eichner applauded the decision and praised Hart of stepping up and saying sorry.
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