Ellen DeGeneres’ brother, Vance DeGeneres, is coming to her defense after the talk show host voiced her support of Kevin Hart hosting the Oscars.
On Saturday, just one day after Hart’s controversial interview on The Ellen DeGeneres Show aired, Vance took to Twitter to speak out on the controversy and the backlash that his sister has faced.
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“Regarding my sister – no good deed goes unpunished,” he wrote. “All she’s ever done is try to help make the world a better, kinder, more compassionate place. And she’s paid the price for her efforts. You may want to pick on someone who actually deserves your criticism.”
During the Friday segment of her daytime talk show, DeGeneres had invited Hart, who had previously been slated to host the Oscars, to sit down for an “incredible and honest conversation” regarding his decision to step down as host after he faced backlash over his controversial homophobic jokes made both on Twitter and in past standup specials.
DeGeneres faced backlash, however, after she came to Hart’s defense and revealed that she had called the Academy encouraging them to invite Hart back as host.
“Don’t pay attention to them; they are a small group of people who are very, very loud. We are a huge group of people who love you and want you to host the Oscars,” DeGeneres said of those who had slammed the comedian for his past comments.
“I called them [The Academy], I said, ‘Kevin’s on, I have no idea if he wants to come back and host, but what are your thoughts?’ And they were like, ‘Oh my God, we want him to host! We feel like that maybe he misunderstood or it was handled wrong. Maybe we said the wrong thing but we want him to host. Whatever we can do we would be thrilled. And he should host the Oscars,” she said.
“As a gay person. I am sensitive to all of that. You’ve already expressed that it’s not being educated on the subject, not realizing how dangerous those words are, not realizing how many kids are killed for being gay or beaten up every day,” she continued. “You have grown, you have apologized, you are apologizing again right now. You’ve done it. Don’t let those people win — host the Oscars.”
DeGeneres’ words were met with criticism online, with many accusing her of giving Hart’s homophobic comments a pass.
Despite her support, Hart later announced that he would not be hosting the 2019 Academy Awards.
