Comedian Sarah Silverman has been dragged into the controversy surrounding Kevin Hart, who stepped down from hosting the 91st Academy Awards after refusing a number of old homophobic tweets surfaced.
TV host Nick Cannon, one of Hart's supporters, defended his friend by retweeting a series of old tweets from Silverman, Chelsea Handler and Amy Schumer, that appeared to use similar anti-gay language. However, Silverman rejected the comparison.
“I’m done with that,” Silverman, a longtime LGBTIQ+ advocate, told TMZ.
“I think I can find other ways to be funny.”
Silverman continued: “I used to say ‘gay’ all the time."
“'Oh, that’s so gay.' We’re from Boston. We’d go, 'That’s what we say in Boston. I have gay friends. I just say gay.' And then I heard myself and I realised I was like the guy who says, 'What? I say coloured. I have coloured friends,' and I realised it was stupid, and I’m certainly creative enough to think of other words besides that, that don’t hurt people."
"But I f##k up all the time.”
When asked if Silverman would replace Hart as host of next year's Oscars, she replied: “I don’t think I’m the man for the job.”
