You’ll be hard-pressed to find someone who dislikes Ellen DeGeneres. Her daytime talk show has been a constant source of laughter, joy and positivity for millions worldwide since 2003. Her first comedy special in over fifteen years, “Relatable,” tried to prove that even after she’s found massive success in rebuilding her career after she came out as gay, she’s still “just like us.”
In the special, DeGeneres noted one particularly un-relatable thing: her self-created image, hinged upon her show’s sign-off “be kind to one another,” doesn’t give her much room to do the opposite. She says, “I can never do anything unkind, ever now, ever. I’m the ‘be kind’ girl. And I’m kind, I’m a good person, I know I am, but I’m a human being and I have bad days.”
It’s no secret that celebrity status can be painfully restrictive on one’s life, despite the usual success that’s attached to it. I can sympathize with DeGeneres’s frustration over the fact that she can’t do something as simple as honking at someone while driving without the fear of making headlines. But in January, when she protected and forgave Kevin Hart, it became clear that she pushes back against such restraints to a fault.
On Dec. 4, Kevin Hart announced he’d be hosting the 91st Academy Awards, an honor he said “would be the opportunity of a lifetime… a goal on [his] list for a long time.” Immediately after his announcement, Hart faced immense backlash after numerous homophobic tweets, mostly from 2009-2011, resurfaced with many people demanding he step down as host.
In these tweets (which he finally started to delete), Hart used multiple homophobic slurs and fed into the toxic masculinity from which most homophobic comments towards gay men stem. One tweet from 2011 read, “Yo if my son comes home & try’s 2 play with my daughters doll house I’m going 2 break it over his head & say n my voice ‘stop that’s gay.’”
Soon after the tweets were exposed, Hart posted a non-apologetic video on Instagram, the caption stating, “Stop looking for reasons to be negative… Stop searching for reasons to be angry… I LOVE EVERYBODY…..ONCE AGAIN EVERYBODY. If you choose to not believe me then that’s on you.”
He dug in his heels even deeper in a later video, making it clear that he refused to apologize for his homophobia; instead, he claimed he had already apologized multiple times before, but the closest thing to an apology anyone could find was this statement from 2015: “I wouldn’t tell that joke today, because when I said it, the times weren’t as sensitive as they are now.” There is no indication that Hart is no longer homophobic, despite his insistence that he “loves everybody.”
Not long after he posted the second video, he stepped down as host and apologized on Twitter. But he should have simply apologized without hesitation and truly proven that he has changed (which he’s had the last ten or so years to do).
Then, a month later, DeGeneres had Hart on her show in a PR stunt that proved he has no true grasp on why he should be held accountable for his actions, and DeGeneres proved that she doesn’t either. They were both too focused on repairing Hart’s tarnished reputation to worry about the hurt he caused black queer people; they exercised the relative privilege both of them have compared to black queer people without acknowledging it, all in the name of increasing said privilege.
Hart couldn’t even wait for DeGeneres’s prompting to talk about the Oscar controversy. He spoke about his character in his most recent film, a “guy that was incarcerated, and wants a second-chance life but he can’t get it, because society holds him back based on the mistake that he made.” Can you see where he’s going with this?
Yes: he’s comparing the backlash he received over his blatant homophobia to the systematic oppression of black people who have been subjected to mass incarceration in this country, saying, “It’s crazy because it coincides with my life now. You know, he’s still being held accountable for a mistake that he made when he’s trying to do the right thing, and nobody will let him move forward.”
When the two finally address the controversy directly, Hart is only concerned with the fact that he got his “moment” taken away from him, “not even a full 24 hours to glow in the glory of ‘Kevin Hart is hosting this year’s Oscars.’” He claims he doesn’t have “a homophobic bone in [his] body.” I really do have to give him credit because I have never seen somebody so steadfastly dismissive while simultaneously claiming to take responsibility for his actions: “I don’t know the perfect individual society is now looking for. It’s not me.”
But DeGeneres and Hart are friends, so he gets a free pass. That’s just how things work, I guess. DeGeneres revealed she called the Academy, advocating for Hart’s position as host to be restored. DeGeneres encouraged him to ignore the backlash, saying, “There are so many haters out there. Whatever’s going on on the internet, don’t pay attention to them. That’s a small group of people being very very loud.” She motions to the audience, “We are a huge group of people who love you and want to see you host the Oscars.”
DeGeneres’s reaction is disappointing, but not surprising. Though it cannot be denied that she made massive strides for LGBT+ people everywhere after deciding to come out, temporarily moving her career to a halt, she does not have the right to speak for all LGBT+ people. DeGeneres represents a “white, wealthy, desexualized, monogamous… neutered and relatively nonthreatening” image of the LGBT+ community. She can never know what it is like to be a black queer person, as she has lived a life insulated with more privilege than any black queer person could access.
As George Johnson, a black queer author, journalist and activist, puts it, “She[’s] basically forgiving Hart on behalf of people she doesn’t speak for, she is also using her power get him to the highest levels of the industry. She has created a situation where her whiteness will not only protect Hart but continue to give no recourse to the black queer community when we express our hurt.”
The “internet trolls” she and Hart so readily discounted were the voices of black queer people and others who know how to be good allies. In having Hart on her show, she normalized the kind of mindset that, in part, led to the hate crime perpetrated against Jussie Smollett.
Smollett, star of “Empire”, was attacked on Jan. 29 in Chicago by two individuals “who yelled racial and homophobic slurs, poured an unknown ‘chemical substance’ on [him] and wrapped a rope around his neck,” a flagrant act of racism and homophobia.
Both DeGeneres and Hart commented on the attack; Hart said in an Instagram post, “Sending prayers your way @jussiesmollett …. WTF is going on the world???? Why are we falling in love with hate???? God damn it people….Choose love…I repeat…Choose love. I will forever choose love and I will continue to teach my kids how to do the same. Stand strong brother.” I can only assume that he figured it would smooth over the Oscars controversy; Hart needs to understand that he cannot control who accepts his apology, and DeGeneres needs to know when it’s her place to accept someone’s apology.
DeGeneres tweeted, “Four years ago, @JussieSmollett came out on my show. I’m sending him and his family so much love today.” She’s giving herself credit where it certainly is not due. She paved the way for white, easy-to-embrace queer people 20 years ago, when queer people of color were barely a part of the conversation.
It is time for us to destroy the concept of untouchability when it comes to celebrities. Yes, Ellen has to think twice before she honks her car horn. But she’s gotten away with murder. So has Kevin Hart. For her, the injustice of “a celebrity being unfairly criticized” far surpassed the injustice of the bigoted humor Kevin Hart spewed in the past. Their wrongdoings need to be a part of a bigger conversation to demand accountability for individuals in a position of power across many different professions (actors, comedians, politicians, etc.). But I don’t expect anything of the sort to happen anytime soon.
