Kevin Hart Says He’ll Never Host Oscars: “It’s Not Comedy Friendly”

“The days of it being a room for a comic, those days are done.”

Actor Kevin Hart speaks onstage during the 88th Annual Academy Awards at the Dolby Theatre on February 28, 2016 in Hollywood, California.

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Kevin Hart has revealed why he’ll never host the Oscars.

Hart recently told Sky News about his decision and stated that “it’s not comedy-friendly.” While he said his opinion wasn’t a knock on the Academy, he maintained that it wasn’t beneficial for comedians.

“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,” he explained. “I think they got it right one year where it was a bunch of personalities acting as the hosts and that’s a nice thing. 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.”

The Lift actor had nothing but love for other comedians who thrived as award show hosts. However, he noted that acts that have established relationships in the industry benefit from the gig over those who don’t.

Actor Eniko Parrish (R) and Eniko Parrish attend the 88th Annual Academy Awards at Hollywood & Highland Center on February 28, 2016 in Hollywood, California.

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“Shout out to those that have cracked the code and done it right early on, you know, the Chris Rocks of the world, the Billy Crystals of the world, the girls we’ve had like Tina Fey, Amy Poehler. Ricky Gervais. 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,”

“It’s not the gig that it was of old. It’s too much pressure on the idea of a comic and what’s jokes and not jokes. So, it’s tough,” he concluded.

Kevin Hart previously hosted the BET Awards, MTV Movie Awards, and the MTV Video Music Awards. The Ride Along actor was selected to host the 2019 Oscars, but controversy prevented him from seeing it through. Hart went viral around that time after some of his past homophobic xweets and stand-up bits resurfaced. While Kevin’s public image recovered, he swore off hosting duties from that moment forward.

Actors Kerry Washington (L) and Kevin Hart speak onstage during the BET AWARDS ’14 at Nokia Theatre L.A. LIVE on June 29, 2014 in Los Angeles, California.

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