It's controversial/ Kevin Hart Refuses To Host Oscars As Awards Shows 'Aren't Comedy-Friendly Environments Anymore'

Kevin Hart, comedian and actor, has said he has no plans to host one of the biggest Hollywood award events - the Academy Awards - as he believes awards ceremonies are no longer good for comedians. His comments have come after Jo Koy received criticism after some of his jokes fell flat during the Golden Globes. Addressing the criticism, Koy said that hosting the awards turned out to be a difficult experience for him.

Why Kevin Hart doesn't want to host the Oscars?

Kevin Hart was roped in to host the Academy Awards in 2019 but had to step down after a controversy over his past homophobic tweets. He has since maintained that he will never host the Oscars. Now, speaking to Sky News, the 44-year-old comedian revealed the reason behind this decision and 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."

Hart continued that the Oscars got it right when they had a bunch of personalities acting as the hosts. "It’s a collaborative thing, different people get to be responsible for act one, act two, act three, but you know, the days of it being a room for a comic, those days are done," he added.

Praising his fellow comics, such as Chris Rocks and Billy Crystals, who hosted the Oscars in the past, he said they have cracked the code and done it right early. "There’s a lot of people that understand that if you’re not an industry comic, meaning a comic that has the relationships of all, then those rooms are very cold. So, me doing it is, of course, at an advantage, because I know the room and for me, and familiar with so many. But, for others it’s not the same,” Hart said.

About the Jo Koy controversy

Comedian and actor came under fire for allegedly making sexist jokes against Greta Gerwig’s blockbuster film Barbie during the Golden Globes. While hosting the award show, he mouthed a monologue which didn't go down with the audience and netizens. The joke in question was: “Oppenheimer is based on the 721-page Pulitzer Prize-winning book about the Manhattan Project — and Barbie is about a plastic doll with big boobies.” Soon after the controversy escalated, Koy came out to defend his remark that Barbie was a movie about "a plastic doll with big boobies." Speaking to the Los Angeles Times, he said, “The things that are being said, it’s just like, man, I don’t think you understand who I am as a person, you know what I mean? Because if you’ve ever seen me, you’ll see just how much I praise and shine a light on women, from my ex-wife to my mom.”

Meanwhile, the 2024 Academy Awards will be held on March 10 with comedian Jimmy Kimmel serving as the host for the ceremony.