Culture

Kevin Hart talking to Lil Nas X about his sexuality really couldn’t have gone any worse

Lil Nas X and Kevin Hart on HBO’s The Shop: Uninterrupted (YouTube/HBO)

Lil Nas X was forced to explain the existence of homophobia to Kevin Hart after the actor repeatedly interrupted a conversation about his sexuality.

Hart has previously come under fire for his attitude towards LGBT+ people and stepped down from hosting the 2019 Oscars over comments about beating his children if they came out.

He later acknowledged a “miscommunication” with the gay community but said he didn’t need to apologise as he had already addressed it in the past.

On September 3, he featured alongside the gay rapper Lil Nas X on HBO’s The Shop: Uninterrupted, and interrupted him several times throughout.

Lil Nas X was asked why he felt it was necessary to come out. Before he could answer, Hart interjected: “He said he was gay! So what?”

The ‘Old Town Road’ singer explained: “It’s not like it’s being forced. It’s like knowing, growing up, like, I’m growing up to hate this s**t. I’m not supposed to ever like this.”

Hart appeared visibly irritated as he asked, “Hate what? Hate what?” Lil Nas X replied: “Homosexuality. Gay. Gay people.”

“Why? Why you gonna have to hate it?” pressed Hart, who has used gay slurs on social media and said that if his son came out as gay, he would break a dollhouse on his head.

“Come on, now. If you’re really from the hood, you know,” Lil Nas X replied. “You know like it’s not something…”

He then explains the importance of coming out as a gay man “at the top” of his career, rather than at any other time.

“So, if like, for me, ‘the cool dude with the song on top of everything’, to say this at any other time, I’m doing this for attention, in my eyes. But if you’re doing this while you’re at the top you know it’s like for real, and it’s showing that it doesn’t really matter, I guess.”

After the footage was released viewers shared their annoyance at Hart’s insensitive line of questioning, which seems to ignore the realities of being a gay black man.

The Daily Beast’s Goldie Taylor wrote: “Why not simply listen, give Lil Nas X the space and deference to tell his own story…”

Some suggested Hart’s sharp tone may indicate he is still carrying anger about his previous controversies with the LGBT+ community.

@Jdesmondharis tweeted: “Kevin Hart’s rage and bitterness about anything to do with gay people is so jarring. Lil Nas X seems so stable and healthy and Kevin seems so… not OK.”

Others agreed that Hart seemed uncomfortable with the topic of conversation.

But some of Hart’s fans defended the actor, saying that he has learned from his past mistakes and that his questions were simply facilitating a discussion.

Ryae-Amber Cuthbert tweeted: “I think the ‘so what’ was basically him saying it should not be like this anymore, having to come out, we need to be better than this, let people be who they are, and not have it be a huge announcement. They’re just gay or they’re just hetero or whatever they want to be.

“I could see how it came off as dismissive, and with his past remarks years back, and that backlash, people are taking his perspective as negative.”

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