Kevin Hart: I Won’t Play a Gay Role

Kevin Hart is everywhere these days promoting his latest flick, The Wedding Ringer, which opened in theaters this weekend with an impressive $20.6 million box office. The film finds the Philly native in his first “hard R-rated comedy,” which he has said gives him the ability to explore new avenues as an actor by incorporating some of his earlier, more-risqué standup material. An interview he gave on 105.1’s The Breakfast Club last week, however, reveals that, no matter how rewarding it is for him to explore new territories as a performer, there’s one that he’ll likely never navigate: playing gay.

The conversation started when interviewer Angela Yee mentioned that he turned down the role of Alpa Chino in Tropic Thunder. Hart explained that, “In my defense. … the role was written to be gayer than it played out in the movie. It was real flagrant.” Being his ever-careful self, he quickly cleared the air by saying, “I’m politically correct. To the gay community, I respect and appreciate any and everything you all do, and as people, I love you.”

Yee then asked if he could play a gay role: “No. Not because I have any ill will or disrespect, it’s because I feel like I can’t do it, because I don’t think … I’m gonna dive into that role 100 percent because of the insecurities of myself trying to play that part … like what I think people are going to think while I’m trying to do this is going to stop me from playing that part the way I’m supposed to.”

An unfortunate answer, considering he’s basically admitting that stigma would keep him from taking on the role of a gay man. The conversation closes with him saying that it may happen one day, if he happens to be “all about the art” and if “that can get Kevin Hart an Oscar.”

“Seven years later when [I’ve] done this part and you say, ‘Hey Kevin, I thought you said you would never do it.’ [If] I’m at a point where I want to take a chance, this role made sense, the story made sense, I may do it … You don’t know what tomorrow holds. Once again, if I get to the point where I want to challenge myself in the business, and I’m all about the art, who knows if that’s the right artsy piece that can get Kevin Hart an Oscar and show a different acting talent. But right now, it’s not on the drawing board.”

Check out the entire interview here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XAvqpdj0WcM

(h/t Defamer)