‘The View’ Co-Hosts Divide Over Kevin Hart’s Interview With Ellen DeGeneres

Ellen DeGeneres offered her forgiveness to Kevin Hart this week, but the co-hosts of The View were still split over the issue on Friday.

Hart was a guest on The Ellen DeGeneres Show on Thursday, where they discussed his Oscar controversy at length. DeGeneres seemed to forgive Hart for his old homophobic tweets, even revealing that she had called the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to try and have Hart reinstated as host. On Friday, the co-hosts of The View revisited the interview, and some questioned DeGeneres’ stance.

The segment began with Joy Behar noting that DeGeneres is not a controversial comedian in general. She called DeGeneres “one of the few comedians that never gets into trouble,” but is now facing accusations that she is “betraying the gay community.”

After playing a short clip of DeGeneres complimenting hart, the hosts took their sides. Friday’s guest, Ana Navarro began by defending DeGeneres and her right to speak for herself rather than a larger community.

“I think she’s speaking for herself and a lot of times when you speak and you’re a latino, you’re this, you’re that, people get mad because they think you’re representing,” she said. “I think Ellen DeGeneres wants to see Kevin Hart host the Oscars.”

Navarro added that she knew plenty of LGBTQ individuals who were prepared to forgive Hart and watch him host the Oscars. Behar, however, did not seem to agree.

“It reminds me of when Kavanaugh got into the Surpreme Court and it was like, is he the only one you could possibly find in this country to do that job?” she said. “It’s similar to that in a way.”

To Behar, there were plenty of other options to host, including Tina Fey, Amy Poehler, Adam Sandler and Steve Martin. Abby Huntsman jumped in, agreeing that Hart’s apology was “sort of a non-apology.”

Sunny Hostin condemned Hart in no uncertain terms, saying that “the black community has been so targeted by bias and racism and prejudice for so long, you would think he would be an ally to the LGBTQ community.” However, she felt that he had shown enough growth to be considered “an ally,” and should be allowed to host. At this point, Meghan McCain stepped in, saying that Hart had more apologizing to do before he got on that stage.

“I think he needs to come out and say I was wrong, that was ignorant, we have people that are killing themselves and committing suicide,” she said. “He hasn’t said any of that. Being LGBT and young in this country, especially in places where I’m from and the middle of the country, isn’t always easy. I think if you want to make it a teachable moment, go out there and make it a teachable moment.”

McCain added that she is not a supporter of “mob mentalities,” and that she is not necessarily against Hart hosting the Oscars. She simply hopes to see more apologies before he does so.