Watch Lil Nas X Swiftly Shut Down Kevin Hart For Questioning His Decision To Come Out
Class act.
Lil Nas X took some time off tweeting to appear on HBO’s The Shop, a talkshow set in a barbershop. Unfortunately, comedian Kevin Hart was also there, who had no time for the rapper discussing why he decided to come out as gay during the height of ‘Old Town Road’ fever.
In a short clip that circulated online before the show aired, Lil Nas X is asked about making the “announcement” so early into his career — that is, when he came out in July — to which Hart loudly interjects to say, “He said he was gay, so what?”
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 okay. https://t.co/ag7aDo1zg0— Jenée (@jdesmondharris) September 4, 2019
Earlier this year, Hart both apologised and defended homophobic jokes he’d made in the past after he was forced to step down from hosting the Oscars amid strong backlash. In one tweet, he jokes he’d break a dollhouse over his son’s head if he ever found him playing with one.
Discussing it, Hart has continually stressed he has “no homophobic bone in his body”: in fact, that’s often the opening line of a lot of those jokes.
Lil Nas continues, saying: “It’s not being forced…I’m growing up to hate that shit.”
Hart and other guests express disbelief, and Hart asks ‘what shit’ he means. Rather than match the energy, Lil Nas calmly responds. “Homosexuality. Gay People. Come on now, if you’re really from the hood you know,” he tells Hart.
After that, Hart is silent, and Lil Nas is finally allowed to speak.
“For me, the cool dude with this song, on top of everything to say this any other time, [it could be seen as] I’m doing this for attention, in my eyes,” he says. “But if you doing this while you’re at the top, you know it’s for real and it’s showing it doesn’t really matter, I guess.”
On Twitter, Hart was criticised for essentially gaslighting Lil Nas X by acting as though we’re above and beyond discussing a coming out, when his own actions show exactly why it’s still essential.
“Why were you scared to come out?!” asks the man who said he’d literally beat the gay out of his son if he ever came out as gay.
— Kendally Brown (@kendallybrown) September 4, 2019
straight culture's first instinct to coming out is denigration – they'll hit you with a "we already knew" or a "who cares?", every time, because you have done something grand, and they still want you to feel small. https://t.co/wlN73ojduC
— Anthony Oliveira (@meakoopa) September 4, 2019
"He said he was gay. So what!" Kevin Hart knows exactly what the "so what" is here and why a young black boy would closet his sexuality until he believed it was safe. Why not simply listen, give @LilNasX the space and deference to tell his own story… https://t.co/8nY9cHPftP
— G O L D I E. (@goldietaylor) September 4, 2019
Meanwhile, people celebrated Lil Nas’s composure in the moment.
It would seem @LilNasX is becoming far more than the dude who gave us a song of the summer. Props.
— Craig Melvin (@craigmelvin) September 4, 2019
lil nas x showed admirable resolve there — that he shouldn’t have had to, it should be said — but what i really liked was how he took the steam out of kevin hart with that “if you were really from the hood, you would know.”
— Joel D. Anderson (@byjoelanderson) September 4, 2019
I wanted to tweet a long thread about how much this upset me but I have other things to do.
Instead I'll just say everyone in this room who left Lil Nas X to explain this himself as if he were making it all up is a fucking coward. All of their names should be noted. Period. https://t.co/LMHoa1mGYl
— must be the season of the witch (@MikelleStreet) September 4, 2019
Lil Nas X is about to drop the music video for his new single ‘Panini’, performing the song last week at the MTV VMAs.
Kevin Hart is currently in hospital after suffering back injuries in a car crash in California on Sunday — he is expected to make a full recovery.