Comedian Nick Cannon came to the defense of his friend Kevin Hart Saturday, striking back at “woke” comedians who demanded Hart step down from his position hosting the Oscars awards ceremony by revealing their individual histories of making “homophobic” and “problematic” comments on Twitter.
Hart stepped down from hosting the Oscars on Friday, after pro-LGBTQ activists revealed that Hart had written “homophobic” tweets in the past about what he might do if his son turned out to be gay.
Hart initially refused to apologize for his past tweets, claiming that they were immaterial to his current career, but eventually caved to pressure, announcing late last week that he was “sorry” for his behavior and that he would not be hosting the Oscars, so as to “not be a distraction” from the Hollywood awards ceremony.
That’s when Cannon stepped in, posting to his own Twitter feed examples of “homophobic” tweets from some of Hollywood’s most recognizable “woke” names: Amy Schumer, Sarah Silverman, and, of course, Chelsea Handler.
Warning: the language is pretty strong.
Interesting I wonder if there was any backlash here… https://t.co/0TlNvgYeIj
— Nick Cannon (@NickCannon) December 8, 2018
I’m just saying… should we keep going??? https://t.co/1kESA82WqR
— Nick Cannon (@NickCannon) December 8, 2018
And I fucking love Wreck it Ralph!!! https://t.co/6cHA1EQEkg
— Nick Cannon (@NickCannon) December 8, 2018
Cannon doesn’t want the three women to be forced to apologize, IndieWire reports, “but to question why so much backlash was given to Hart when homophobic jokes have been made for some time by comics both male and female.”
Ultimately, Cannon believes that comedians should be free to joke about what they want, and to make mistakes, missteps, and bad jokes along the way, without those mistakes coming back to haunt them when they’re nominated to host one of the single largest entertainment events on the calendar.
“You know I’ve been saying f***ed up sh*t since twitter started!” Cannon replied to one fan who asked him what he was doing. “I don’t play that politically correct bulls**t! F*** politics!! Only Truth!”
None of the women Cannon exposed have apologized for their tweets or, really, said anything in response to Cannon’s publication. Sarah Silverman, IndieWire says, has occasionally cited her previous work as rough and amateurish.
“All I can do is learn from it, be changed forever by it, and do what I can to make it right going forward,” Silverman told The Guardian last year.
Strangely, though, woke Hollywood isn’t willing to grant the same grace to Kevin Hart.