Kevin Hart Says He Is “Evaluating” Coming Back To Host The Oscars After Ellen Degeneres Calls The Academy, Talk Show Host Gets Slammed Online For Calling Critics “Trolls And Haters”

Just over a month after comedian Kevin Hart stepped down from hosting the #Oscars amidst controversy and backlash for old tweets, the “Night School” star expresses to Ellen Degeneres that he will consider coming back on board to host the upcoming award show.

When the Academy requested that Kevin apologize for his anti-gay remarks or leave the post, Hart first refused to apologize and passed on the gig. However, he later expressed regret for his remarks and apologized.⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀

During an hour-long interview on her show Ellen, DeGeneres revealed that she called the Academy herself because she wanted Hart to host. She said, “I called them, I said, ‘Kevin’s on, I have no idea if he wants to come back and host, but what are your thoughts?’ And they were like, ‘Oh my God, we want him to host! We feel like that maybe he misunderstood or it was handled wrong. Maybe we said the wrong thing but we want him to host. Whatever we can do we would be thrilled. And he should host the Oscars.'”⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀

Hart responded stating he would “assess” whether he was interested in returning to the hosting gig, telling Degeneres, “Leaving here, I promise you, I’m evaluating this conversation. This is a conversation I needed to have, I’m glad that I had it here, and I’m glad that it was as authentic and real as I could have hoped that it would be. So let me assess, just to sit in this space and really think, and you and I will talk before anything else.”

DeGeneres later tweeted that Hart’s appearance was originally scheduled to air Monday, but she decided to move the segment up because she didn’t want to sit on it: “I had an incredible and honest conversation with #KevinHart4real about hosting the Oscars. It was supposed to air on Monday. I don’t want you to have to wait, so now it’s gonna air tomorrow,” she wrote.

Then in a twist of events, a huge backlash against DeGeneres erupted for her defense and attack on Hart’s critics calling them “haters” and “trolls.”

According to TMZ, some are calling it “a massive f***ing betrayal.”  People are outraged that Ellen is putting herself out as the spokesperson for the entire LGBTQ community and one person tweeted, “To Ellen. Unfortunately Mrs Ellen, this ain’t your fight. The harm is done and this man hasn’t learned.”

I believe in forgiveness. I believe in second chances. And I believe in @KevinHart4real. pic.twitter.com/oJxfGXhU4P

— Ellen DeGeneres (@TheEllenShow) January 4, 2019