The fact is, I don’t really care about what Kevin Hart tweeted, or what he said in his stand-up specials. It’s not that his jokes—premised on gay panic and how that might be inflicted on his children—aren’t toxic. They are, of course. I don’t much care because, in addition to being awful, they’re utterly unsurprising. Have you heard straight-male comedy? So much of it still hinges on the same prejudices that Hart only stated more plainly. These jokes, or this one central joke, is baked right into the genes of the form.

So yes, when these jokes were once again unearthed in the wake of Hart’s hiring as host of the upcoming Academy Awards ceremony, I mostly shrugged. I was aware of them already, as a lot of gay people who pay attention to such things were, and I’d just accepted them as a part of Hart’s, and comedy’s, and culture’s imperfect relationship with gayness. The Academy and ABC had bigger concerns—falling ratings chief among them—than some icky stuff they could pretty easily deem harmless because it’s just so familiar and widespread.

Of course, the Internet went after Hart, and after issuing a petulant non-apology he was removed, or removed himself, from the gig. In the quick wake of the controversy, I find myself feeling depressed by how hard it is to get upset, to have anything fresh or insightful to say. Because so little about this is new—just the particular circumstances, the name of the guy implicated. (Even then, Hart’s name has come up on this matter before.) Once more, awful gay jokes only became an issue when gay people made enough noise. This is simply a new chapter in a long and repetitive story.

I guess what does gall, or at least glumly annoy, is that this wasn’t a problematic halftime performer at the Super Bowl, or a Saturday Night Live “Weekend Update” bit, or, y’know, a United States vice president. This was the host of the freaking Oscars, an awards show that, like many awards shows, has a disproportionate amount of gay fans. And yet, either no one involved in the hiring process did a cursory search on Hart or, more troublingly, they did find these jokes but didn’t think them disqualifying. I’m more inclined to believe the latter, based on years of living in the world as a gay person.

Either way, though, it’s not good. It’s an embarrassing tell for the Academy and ABC, an exposure of their baser motivations in this whole process. 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?

The answer to that question lies in economics, no doubt, pretty far off from any notions of fan appreciation or allegiance or anything so squishy. The money of it all is complicated, but the bottom line is probably simple: the network has to make its investment worth it, so they can’t just stage the movie Tonys every February. (CBS had Kevin Spacey host the Tonys in 2017, by the way.) I get that, and so when we’re served the wry, over-it stylings of Jimmy Kimmel–esque hosts, I can accept it as part of the arrangement. But the Kevin Hart choice so discounted the Oscars’ gay viewers that it almost felt like a deliberate insult. That it probably wasn’t deliberate, was likely just a thoughtless bungle, stings in its own way, though. At least when you’re being directly insulted, you’re not being ignored.


The sad, maybe embarrassing fact is that if Hart had stayed on as host, I still would have watched the Oscars. Because it’s a requirement of my job, yes—but also because I love the Oscars. They’re fun, and my other gay friends like them too. All our chatter and armchair strategizing in the lead-up to the ceremony is a big, engaging part of my winter.

Most years, the fact that no out gay actor has ever won an Oscar comes up. We sigh, shake our heads. This year, we grumbled about Kevin Hart. One friend wrote something about it, and maybe helped turn things around. So that’s something that a very small few of us can do. Otherwise, we are but weary fans, stanning at the mercy of what has always seemed like a pretty indifferent god.