Ellen DeGeneres defends Kevin Hart and asks the Academy to bring him back as Oscars host

After all the drama, could Kevin Hart actually end up hosting the Oscars after all?

The comedian, who stepped down as host of the 2019 Academy Awards in December after old homophobic tweets of his resurfaced, recently sat down with Ellen DeGeneres, who passionately defended him and said he should still host the show, Variety reports. In fact, during the course of this interview, DeGeneres, who hosted the Oscars in 2014, reveals she called the Academy and asked them to bring him back. According to DeGeneres, the Academy is interested, telling her, "Whatever we can do, we would be thrilled."

The Academy never actually fired Hart from the Oscars. Instead, it demanded he apologize for the old comments. Hart, who says he felt frustrated because he already apologized in the past, instead decided to step down, only to offer a fresh apology hours later.

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DeGeneres encouraged Hart to ignore the "haters" and "trolls" on the internet, saying that after private conversations with Hart, she sees that, in the past, he did not understand "how dangerous those words are" but that he has grown. "Don't let those people win," she added. "Host the Oscars."

Hart expressed some reluctance, calling the resurfacing of his tweets a "malicious attack on my character" and suggesting that to return would be to go "right back into the place where the people that came after me want me to go." But DeGeneres countered that if he doesn't host, "they're gonna win." Hart ultimately promised DeGeneres he'd mull it over.

Watch the full interview, which was released early ahead of a Monday broadcast, at Variety. Brendan Morrow