Nick Cannon defends Kevin Hart by sharing past homophobic tweets from progressive comedians

In the wake of comedian Kevin Hart stepping down as host of this year’s Academy Awards due to the resurfacing of past homophobic tweets, Nick Cannon shared old tweets from comedians Amy Schumer, Sarah Silverman, and Chelsea Handler in which they used anti-gay slurs.

“Interesting,” Cannon said while retweeting a tweet from 2010 by Handler. “I wonder if there was any backlash here…”

In the 2010 Handler tweet, she writes, “This is what a f*g bird likes like when he flexes.” The photo included in Handler’s tweet is no longer available.

Cannon then shared a 2012 tweet from Schumer, where she writes, “Enjoy skyfall f*gs. I’m bout to get knee deep in Helen Hunt #thesessions.”

“…should we keep going?” Cannon asked.

In a 2010 tweet from Sarah Silverman highlighted by Cannon, she says, “I dont mean this in a hateful way but the new bachelorette’s a f*ggot.”

When one person told Cannon to take stock of his own past tweets before sharing the tweets of others, he said that he’s well aware that he’s tweeted offensive things.

“You know I’ve been saying f*cked up sh*t since twitter started!” he replied. “I don’t play that politically correct bullsh*t! F*ck politics!! Only Truth!”

This Thursday, just 48 hours after he accepted the job of hosting the Oscars, Hart stepped down after past tweets where he made anti-gay comments resurfaced. The tweets were almost a decade old. In a video posted to Instagram, Hart said that he’s evolved since the tweets were posted.

“My team calls me, ‘Oh my God, Kevin, everyone’s upset by tweets you did years ago,’” he said. “Guys, I’m nearly 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 the past, do you. I’m the wrong guy, man.”

Although he initially refused to apologize, Hart later issued an apology on Twitter.

“I have made the choice to step down from hosting this year’s Oscar’s….this is because I do not want to be a distraction on a night that should be celebrated by so many amazing talented artists,” he tweeted. “I sincerely apologize to the LGBTQ community for my insensitive words from my past.”

Featured image via screen grab/YouTube

Sky Palma

Before launching DeadState back in 2012, Sky Palma has been blogging about politics, social issues and religion for over a decade. He lives in Los Angeles and also enjoys Brazilian jiu jitsu, chess, music and art.

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