Kevin Hart has spoken out again to defend his decision to speak out in support of his friends Ellen DeGeneres and Nick Cannon over their recent scandals.
The actor defended Ellen as she faced claims of enabling a ‘toxic’ work environment, while he also showed public support to Nick after the Masked Singer host was slammed over ‘anti-Semitic’ comments.
The comedian told Deadline: ‘Well, I don’t lose sight of the definition of friendship, and in our business, it’s one thing that people don’t really hold on to. There’s a lot of relationships that are fake, and there’s some that are real.’
Kevin, who made headlines himself after he was forced to step down from hosting the 2019 Oscars due to unearthed homophobic tweets from his past, added: ‘In my case, the ones that are real are the ones that I’m always going to be adamant about speaking on behalf of. I know the people that both of them are, and knowing the people, all I can say is my experiences with those people.
‘That’s not to take away from what other people are saying that they have had, and that they have done. It’s just to highlight what I’m saying I know, and what I can speak on behalf of.’
The 41-year-old continued: ‘In times like this, I know also how dark it gets. I know how lonely it gets, because I know that these are times when people just turn their back on you.
‘So for the ones that you love, that are close to your heart, you just want them to have some support, when it seems that there is none out there, and that’s just who I am as a person.’
He insisted: ‘That goes for anybody, across the board, that I consider a friend, and that’s not a big group of people. Everybody doesn’t get that conversation and that feeling from me, but the ones that do, I’m serious about it.
‘I’m true to it, and it doesn’t mean that you have to speak on behalf of the problem. It doesn’t mean that you have to disregard the things that others are saying. It means that I can just speak on my relationship with my friends.
‘When it comes to Nick, and it comes Ellen, I know who they are, and I know who they’ve been for the years that I’ve been around them, and I can only speak to that. Those are two of the most amazing people that I know.’
His interview came after Kevin and Ellen were pictured together enjoying lunch over the weekend.
Kevin recently told fans he had never seen Ellen mistreating others and argued that the current focus on her show was partly down to the internet’s ‘crazy negativity’.
He wrote on Instagram: ‘It’s crazy to see my friend go thru what she’s going thru publicly. I have known Ellen for years and I can honestly say that she’s one of the dopest people on the f***ing planet.
‘She has treated my family and my team with love and respect from day 1. The internet has become a crazy world of negativity….we are falling in love with peoples down fall. It’s honestly sad…When did we get here? I stand by the ones that I know and that I love.’
The comedian continued: ‘Looking forward to the future where we get back to loving one another….this hate shit has to stop. Hopefully it goes out of style soon….
‘This post is not meant to disregard the feelings of others and their experiences….It’s simply to show what my experiences have been with my friend. Love you for life Ellen…’
Kevin, received a wave of criticism with many feeling that his public support of Ellen diminished the alleged experiences of those former staff members.
In a video shared hours after his supportive post, Kevin said: ‘This social media s**t is getting out of hand, it is truly getting out of hand.
‘From showing support to a friend, you get a roar of frustration out of so many. Calls, phone going off the f***ing hook. I’m a friend and if I have a friend in trouble ever, I’ma try my best to be there for them.’
Kevin then made reference to the recent controversy surrounding Wild ‘N Out host Nick, who was accused of making anti-Semitic remarks on his podcast and subsequently dropped by Viacom.
Kevin is just one of the latest stars to show support for Ellen, with the talk show host’s wife Portia de Rossi, Katy Perry and Ashton Kutcher among those to publicly stand with her.
The TV host was initially the one defending Kevin in 2019 when he received backlash over his homophobic jokes.
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