Oscars host Kevin Hart responds to brewing controversy over his old homophobic tweets: "Stop looking for reasons to be negative"

The Hollywood Reporter

In a black-and-white Instagram video and accompanying post, a shirtless Hart lying in bed responded to the controversy over his resurfaced old homophobic tweets. "I swear man, our world is becoming beyond crazy. I'm not going to let the craziness frustrate me or anger me especially when I worked hard to get to the mental space where I'm at now," he said in the video. "My team calls me, 'Oh my God, Kevin, this world is upset about tweets you did years ago.' Guys. I'm almost 40 years old. If you don't believe that people change, grow, evolve as they get older, I don't know what to tell you. If you want to hold people in a position where they always have to justify or explain their past, then do you. I'm the wrong guy, man,. I'm in a great place, a great mature place where all I do is spread positivity." In the accompanying post, Hart writes: "Stop looking for reasons to be negative ... Stop searching for reasons to be angry...I love to Love. I LOVE EVERYBODY.....ONCE AGAIN EVERYBODY. If you choose to not believe me then that's on you."

ALSO:

• GLAAD has reached out to ABC, the Academy and Hart's management to "discuss his rhetoric and record as well as opportunities for positive LGBTQ inclusion on the Oscars stage"
• Why didn't Oscars vet Hart? Why didn't he have a better response?
• Billy Eichner denounces Hart's response: "This is not good. A simple, authentic apology showing any bit of understanding or remorse would have been so simple. Like I tweeted a few weeks ago, Hollywood still has a real problem with gay men. On the surface it may not look like it. Underneath, it’s far more complicated."