ABC and The Academy's handling of the Kevin Hart debacle left them looking clueless

The Hollywood Reporter

"Nothing that happened this week should have surprised anybody and yet it all played out in half-assed Instagram posts and stealthy late-night announcements," says Daniel Fienberg. "That's not how ABC and the Academy should be treating what is a crown jewel for both, nor how Kevin Hart should have treated what he called a life-long dream." Fienberg points out that it is especially mind-boggling that ABC, following its Roseanne Barr disaster six months ago, "would sign off on giving any high-profile or low-profile gig to any individual without knowing every word that person ever posted on Twitter and without a clear and immediate exit strategy in mind." It's even more shocking, he says, that ABC had no plan to deal with the controversy when it erupted on social media. As Fienberg notes, it doesn't take a publicist or crisis manager to figure out that a heartfelt apology, a donation to an LGBTQ organization and a sincere interview with a friendly media outlet would've gone a long way to putting this controversy to rest. "That's the thing," says Fienberg. "These tweets that people 'found' from Kevin Hart? Everybody knew they were there. Everybody. This was simply who Kevin Hart was both on Twitter and in his standup work less than a decade ago. He may be different now. Heaven knows that people are entitled to evolve; it's ideal. But he was still basically this same person when he first hosted the BET Awards and the first of several MTV-sponsored awards shows. Nobody takes those awards shows as seriously as people take the Oscars, nor should they, but the Academy and ABC couldn't possibly have been unaware that Hart is and was a figure with some objectionable stuff in his background — and Hart says he's apologized for this stuff in the past."

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• Why wouldn't Kevin Hart just apologize before stepping down?: "Was he feeling that his core following would think he had sold out his beliefs for a job?" asks Mike Fleming Jr. "Does he still hold those beliefs against LGBTQs? Did he really believe that because he is also a stand-up comedian he is entitled to say insulting things to keep his standing as an edgy comic? Did he think, hell, these are just words? It is as hard to say as why he chose to actually apologize only after he stepped away from the job. In the hours preceding, he scoffed at people who didn’t think he had evolved as a 40-year-old man in the eight years since he issued those homophobic tweets. He certainly didn’t come off as contrite or sincere, mostly focused on those who cobbled together the social media missives that fueled his downfall. Hart’s unwillingness to be changeable was his undoing. What is sad is that his versatility and changeability has been one of his biggest assets. His career was built on being changeable."
• Kevin Hart is the "smarmiest, sleaziest, creepiest and unfunniest award show guest of the past decade": "The sheer jaw-dropping badness of this decision defies all logic," says Rob Sheffield. "Hosting the Academy Awards used to be one of the most prestigious, high-profile gigs in show business. How did it become a job they got so desperate to fill, they called Kevin Hart, knowing his shtick? It’s not like his sense of humor is some kind of guilty secret he kept hidden until this week." Sheffield adds: "Not a thing about this fiasco makes a lick of sense. Kevin Hart is a wildly successful movie star and comedian. He is a man of many talents. Award shows are not one of them. He is the smarmiest, sleaziest, creepiest and unfunniest award show guest of the past decade. He usually co-presents with a female movie star and slimes all over her sexually — like at the podium at the 2015 Golden Globes with Salma Hayek, when yes, he made a joke about her 'golden globes' (meaning her breasts) and she just cringed, as we all cringed for her. Salma Hayek was not anointed to host this year’s Oscars. Kevin Hart was."
• The Kevin Hart choice so discounted the Oscars’ gay viewership that it almost felt like a deliberate insult: "It’s an embarrassing tell for the Academy and ABC, an exposure of their baser motivations in this whole process," says Richard Lawson. "I don’t fault them for wanting to hire someone as popular as Kevin Hart is. I guess I do fault them, though, for not seeming to care much about who values the Oscars, who debates and predicts and live-tweets and roots and cheers along. I’m sure there are plenty of shitty straight guys, the kind who would laugh knowingly at Hart’s jokes about beating the gay out of his son, who enjoy the Oscars too. But why is that segment of the viewership so routinely favored over us?"
• Why we need to forgive Kevin Hart: "I fear we’re creating a  disastrous precedent," says Susan Fowler. "In holding people accountable for their old views — even ones they realized were wrong and apologized for — we are setting standards that nobody can meet. We cannot expect to make progress if we do not allow people the chance to grow with us."
• Don't feel sorry for Kevin Hart: "Lying in bed in a sea of plush white linens, looking dejected, Hart filmed himself lamenting those who chose to focus on his words from long ago and who refused to let him evolve," says C. Nicole Mason, adding: "Hart’s solemn indignation is a trick meant to cause us to question our moral compass and to empathize with him, the person being called to account. It is straight out of a now-familiar playbook used by powerful wrongdoers to fashion themselves as the victim and to whip up public support and empathy."
• Snoop Dogg gives Kevin Hart a pep talk: “Hey Kev, don’t trip. It ain’t our kind of sh*t, no way