Here's some of the material the comic had lined up for the big night.
Although Kevin Hart is not hosting the 2019 Academy Awards, it turns out he was already lining up material before he backed out of the gig.
“You have to have people that have a high level of not giving a f**k to make the night good,” Hart explained on Michelle Collins’ SiriusXM radio show. “The whole purpose of Kevin Hart hosting the Oscars was to take away the tension. I had bits that were f**king phenomenal.”
Among them was a segment in which he planned to lavish the producers and directors in the room with praise, ask them to raise their hands and then, “I was going to open up the door and have my friends come in and just start pitching for 20 seconds.”
He also intended to discuss some previous viral moments at the awards show and how “you don’t want to be a meme.”
“The internet is undefeated. Don’t f**king sit in here and put yourself in a position where you’re going to become a meme," Hart said. "I was going to pull up the pictures in the past of people that became memes and simply say, ‘This is why you need to relax.’ You know that picture of Denzel [Washington] where he’s got the teeth? He’s one of the best actors to ever do it and this meme almost took him out. I was going to say what the meme did and what damage it could do. I had f**king gold. I was going to come out swinging, I promise you.”
As of now, this year’s Academy Awards are still without a host, which could be how the evening plays out. It’s not without precedent and tends to lead to an understandably slimmer broadcast.
In December, the 39-year-old comedian accepted hosting duties, but after several homophobic jokes resurfaced leading to widespread criticism, he decided to step down.
"I'm sorry that I hurt people," he tweeted at the time. "I am evolving and want to continue to do so. My goal is to bring people together not tear us apart. Much love & appreciation to the Academy. I hope we can meet again."
Check out his full chat in the clip above.
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