Jerry Seinfeld suggested the withdrawl of fellow comic Kevin Hart from hosting the Oscars hurts the ceremony, not the “Night School” star. Hart stepped down from the gig after backlash for homophobic tweets he posted several years ago.
“When you look at that situation, well, who got screwed in that deal?” Seinfeld asked in an interview to air in its entirety on “Sunday Today with Willie Geist.” (See the clip above.) “I think Kevin’s going to be fine, you know. But find another Kevin Hart, that’s not so easy. He’s a brilliant guy with a movie career.”
Seinfeld added that comedians “are expected to be the most agile in terms of how we think and construct our thoughts and what comes out of our mouth. We have been navigating these slalom gates forever.”
The notion of a no-host Oscars has emerged since Hart quit. The Oscars 91st edition, to air on Feb. 24, 2019, hasn’t named a new master of ceremonies.
Hart had called the Academy Awards assignment the “opportunity of a lifetime,” but gave it up in the face of mounting pressure.
“I have made the choice to step down from hosting this year’s Oscar’s....this is because I do not want to be a distraction on a night that should be celebrated by so many amazing talented artists,” Hart wrote on Twitter. “I sincerely apologize to the LGBTQ community for my insensitive words from my past.”