Nick Cannon Defends Kevin Hart by Sharing Other Comedians’ Homophobic Tweets
Nick Cannon has come to Kevin Hart's defense after the comedian stepped down from hosting the Oscars due to backlash over past homophobic comments online.
Cannon, 38, shared old tweets from Amy Schumer, Sarah Silverman and Chelsea Handler that also used homophobic language, including several slurs. He noted that several of the messages were "interesting," adding, "I wonder if there was any backlash here..."
His post was accompanied by a tweet from Handler that read, "This is what a f-- bird likes [SIC] like when he flexes."
Cannon also shared a 2012 tweet from Schumer, which read, "Enjoy skyfall f---. I'm about to get knee deep in Helen Hunt #thesessions." He captioned the shared tweet, "I'm just saying...should we keep going???"
He then dug up a 2010 tweet from Silverman that said, "I don't mean this in a hateful way but the new bachelorette's a f--." Cannon added, "And I f------ love Wreck it Ralph!!"
To her credit, Silverman recently addressed her old material in an interview with The Guardian (via People), admitting that she cringes at "material I did 10 years ago." She also said she's forever changed by it and has grown.
"All I can do is learn from it, be changed forever by it, and do what I can to make it right going forward," she said. "Certainly stuff that I did 10 of 15 years ago, I cringe at now."
In a November interview with Variety, Silverman said she tries to hold herself accountable for that material. She told the outlet that if you can't own it, you can't grow from it.
"I feel like unless you can admit to those things, you can't be changed by them and you can't even forgive yourself for them," she said.
Cannon declined to take a look through his own tweets when asked by a fan. He claimed he was sure that he'd said some "f----- up s---," adding that he doesn't aim to be "politically correct."
"You know I've been saying f----- up s--- since Twitter started! I don't play that politically correct bulls---! F--- politics!! Only Truth!," he said.
While Cannon didn't take a look through his old tweets, fans did. One dug up an old message in which Cannon spoke out against comedians and black men making homophobic remarks. In the 2010 tweet, he asked "Honest question: Why are we as Black men so homophobic?"
In another, this time from 2012, he tweeted "If your best joke includes 'gay' or 'F--' you should be kicked of [SIC] Twitter this ain't the 3rd grade!"
Hart hasn't addressed Cannon's support publicly. It's unclear who will fill his shoes as host of the Academy Awards this year following the controversy.