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Kevin Hart Still Doesn’t Want A Gay Son
If Kevin Hart is expecting the LGBT community to support his next movie, he might be a little disappointed. The vertically-challenged actor and comedian, who is profiled and featured on the cover of the current issue of Rolling Stone, revisited an old joke during the interview about his fears of having a gay son.
During the 2010 Seriously Funny tour, Hart told audiences, “One of my biggest fears is my son growing up and being gay. That’s a fear. Keep in mind, I’m not homophobic…Be happy. Do what you want to do. But me, as a heterosexual male, if I can prevent my son from being gay, I will.” The bit continues with Hart imagining scenarios of how he would react to any possible displays of his son’s homosexuality by repeatedly telling the child “Stop, that’s gay!”
When discussing this with Rolling Stone, Hart explained, “It’s about my fear. I’m thinking about what I did as a dad, did I do something wrong, and if I did, what was it? Not that I’m not gonna love my son or think about him any differently. The funny thing within that joke is it’s me getting mad at my son because of my own insecurities — I panicked.”
He goes on to explain, “It has nothing to do with him, it’s about me. That’s the difference between bringing a joke across that’s well thought-out and saying something just to ruffle feathers.”
We’re not exactly sure what to make of this thought process; however, telling any kid to stop acting gay, kind of does have something to do with the child and has very little to do with you, Kevin. It creates shame, inhibition, and a belief that there is something wrong with him or her. Furthermore, implying to an audience that the fault of a gay son or daughter lies within the parent is just wrong.
Hart concluded his thoughts about that “fear of a gay son” joke by stating, “I wouldn’t tell that joke today, because when I said it, the times weren’t as sensitive as they are now. I think we love to make big deals out of things that aren’t necessarily big deals, because we can. These things become public spectacles. So why set yourself up for failure?”
Not to mention that if you can’t coherently explain a joke five years later, it’s probably best to retire it.
While we wish continued success to Kevin Hart (because wishing failure would be spiteful and petty), we do have a newsflash for him: Our current times are not so much about sensitivity as they are about being progressive and forward-thinking. A gay son has nothing to do with bad parenting. As a matter of fact, there is no failure in having a gay child. Why? Because that’s the way they were born.
Perhaps Kevin should reach out to PFLAG for some additional insight about this topic.
Jeremy Kinser
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