Kevin Hart Openly Slammed Cancel Culture And Stated "The Only Way You Grow Up Is From Fucking Up”

LA Times- Kevin Hart thinks people should be allowed to disagree, and to screw up and learn from it. And now he’s wondering when that stopped being OK.

“When did we get to a point where life was supposed to be perfect? Where people were supposed to operate perfectly all the time?,” the comic and actor said in a Sunday interview with the Times of London. “I don’t understand. I don’t expect perfection from my kids. I don’t expect it from my wife, friends, employees. Because, last I checked, the only way you grow up is from f—ing up.”

Hart speaks from experience, having lost a high-profile job hosting the 2019 Oscars after years-old homophobic tweets and comments resurfaced.

After he quickly stepped down from the gig amid the ensuing backlash, he told talk-show host Ellen DeGeneres, “On my side, openly I say I’m wrong for my past words. I say it. I said it. I understand that. I know that. In this case, it’s tough for me because it was an attack. This wasn’t an accident. This wasn’t a coincidence. It wasn’t a coincidence that the day after I received the job that tweets just somehow manifested from 2008.”

Everybody remembers the whole 2019 Oscar fiasco. Somebody dug up old tweets of Kevin Hart's, like losers love to do, and turned it into this giant reason why he should have been fired from hosting the Oscars and cancelled altogether. 

He didn't back down then, and he's not now.

“It’s not necessarily about cancel culture,” Hart said in the Sunday Times interview. “It’s backlash. It’s about the intent behind what you say — there’s an assumption it’s always bad and, somehow, we forgot comedians are going for the laugh. You’re not saying something to make people angry. That’s not why I’m on stage. I’m trying to make you laugh and if I did not make you laugh I failed. That’s my consequence.”

"I've been canceled, what, three or four times? Never bothered."

"If you allow it to have an effect on you, it will," he said. "Personally? That's not how I operate. I understand people are human."

Hart said he doesn't expect perfection from anyone and would rather see a focus on growth.

"Everyone can change," he said. "It's like jail. People get locked up so they can be taught a lesson."

Several bloggers here have touched on the subject in blogs and on their podcasts with various stand up comedians but it bears repeating- if comedy (one of the last bastions of true free speech in our society) is now under fire and subject to being vilified then what the fuck are we even doing here?

Seriously. If people are gonna get outraged by literal jokes, made my professional jokers, than where do we go from here?

People today go out of their way to find something, ANYTHING, to be offended by and about. They comb through old articles, social media posts, songs, movies, you name it. All in search for something to get upset by and try to rally others in the outrage police to their cause. You would think this would be extremely exhausting but for people with no life and too much time on their hands it doesn't seem to be.

Hart joked about it on his last stand-up special, No Fucks Given, which luckily wasn't canceled.

“You guys got me living my life like a successful drug dealer,” he says in the special, claiming that he’s taken to making people who come to his house strip naked and get in the pool if they want to chat. “How else would I know you’re not wearing a wire? ‘Who you with? E!? People? Who you with? Did you come here to do a story for the tabloids? I don’t trust you, Dad.’”

Hart went on to say in his interview-

“If there’s a message to take from anything I’ve said,” Hart told the Sunday Times, “it’s that in this world of opinion, it’s OK to just disagree. It’s OK to not like what someone did and to say that person wasn’t for me. We are so caught up in everybody feeling like they have to be right and their way is the only way. Politics is f— up because, if you don’t choose our side, you’re dumb.”

Hart sounds like he can’t handle a world so filled with condemnation.

“It’s a divide. … But I’m not about to divide. I don’t support the divide!” he continued. “I put everybody in the f— building.

“We all come into this building Kevin Hart is in and we all laugh. I bring people together — like it or not.”

Amen. 

Remember when civil discourse was a thing? 

When people held opinions and beliefs that weren't based on one specific political ideology and we were allowed to not always agree on everything? 

God forbid your view on something is different from somebody else's today. Your kids can't hang out with theirs, you're the town pariah, family members won't speak to you, you get taken off of text chats, labeled something terrible and the people doing this all think nothing of it. 

I can't even imagine what open discussion is like in schools today. Is it even allowed? I’m guessing no chance? Honest question.

I go out of my way to let it be known that I hate both political parties in this country equally. But I'm obviously friends with people that identify with each. And hardcore partisans at that. Just because we don't share the same opinions on every single line item doesn't make us enemies. It makes shit interesting. That's how you learn. Like Kevin said, yes, you learn by fucking up just as well as you do by perfecting something. But you also learn by having an open mind and thinking critically. For yourself. Something that seems to be disappearing completely.

If you surround yourself with nothing but like minded people who agree with everything you do, that’s not a friend group, it’s an echo chamber. 

So good for Kevin Hart for bringing up the giant elephant in the room that most people have been scared into not talking about today. Shit is dangerous. We all need to take a deep breathe and chill.

p.s. - full disclosure- I'm a big Kevin Hart guy. Wasn't always though. I used to kind of not be able to stand him. Didn't know why people found him so funny (even though he was selling out arenas). I was, I guess you could call, a "hater".

BUT, having an open mind, I decided to read his autobiography when it came out. (partly because I was curious to learn about him and partly because it was ghost-written by one of my favorite authors Neil Strauss) It was fucking awesome. 

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The guy is as self-made as they come. And he'd be the last person to describe himself that way as he goes out of his way to credit his mom for raising him and installing the insane work ethic he has in him. If you think you're busy you should read this book and it will make you feel like a lazy piece of shit by comparison. The guy started out working at a Footaction store in Philly where he'd hone his skills on everybody that came in the store. He became one of their best salesmen by being fearless and on his toes having to relate to people from all walks of life. His father and brother were always in trouble with the law, but Kevin's mom was extra tough on him, and Kevin knew from an early age he didn't want his life to go down the drain. He worked during the day then would drive up the NYC at night in hopes of getting a shot at an open mic. Most times he'd never even get on but he didn't let it deter him. He waited for his opportunity and was prepared, and when it came he seized it. From the point he got his "break" he somehow managed to work even harder and doubled down on himself, risking financial security and a steady paycheck to chase his dream. 

The guy is still hellbent on becoming bigger and more successful and his drive is really admirable. 

He has fucked up big time in the past, still deals with his own demons- drinking, and staying faithful, but he's the first one to admit his flaws and that he needs help. 

Big time recommend if you need an interesting, and funny, read this summer.

p.p.s.- Michaelangelo and I were kicking around the idea of doing a book club together. I know it sounds really lame but we think that a community of like-minded people suggesting great books could be great. Stay tuned-