Kevin Hart Spends Oscars Night Boxing After Stepping Down From Hosting Gig
It was a star-studded Sunday night in Los Angeles as many famous faces made their way to Oscars viewing parties or the annual ceremony itself. The event went without a host for the first time in 30 years, amid a controversy surrounding the man originally slated to emcee the 91st Academy Awards — Kevin Hart.
And while the 39-year-old comedian could have spent his night thinking about how it would have been him up on stage, Page Six reported that he had other plans. The Night School actor shared a video to his Instagram account to show his 70.3 million followers that he instead spent his evening relieving some stress in the gym.
The black-and-white video Hart shared to his fans captured him slugging away at a punching bag, grunting as he delivered a number of boxing combinations to the hanging workout equipment. Meanwhile, a large television in the corner of the gym appeared to be tuned in to ABC, the channel airing the night’s highly anticipated event. It is unclear as to whether the clip was actually taped during the ceremony, or whether Hart was tuned in.
“When you feel like u have nothing left is when you find a way to push & give more….Always grinding” Hart captioned the post. At the time of this writing, his share had been viewed nearly 900,000 times — and has racked up more than 115,000 likes.
The comedian also gave a shout out to his trainer Hino Ehikhamenor in the caption, who appeared to be the man behind the camera. Hino was giving Kevin instructions and words of encouragement as he completed his workout.
Hart announced in December that he had earned the title of Oscars host, though he quickly stepped down after homophobic tweets and jokes from nearly a decade ago resurfaced. The comedian defended himself over the old remarks during an episode of his SiriusXM podcast Straight From the Hart in January, when NBC News reported that The Upside actor assured that he has “no problem with gay people,” and does not “have a homophobic bone in my body.”
He eventually issued an apology towards the end of the podcast, and said he would not be addressing the controversy again.
Kevin Hart spends #Oscars night hitting a punchbag after stepping down from hosting duties https://t.co/kZwOALkkRD pic.twitter.com/IXPDcCeOAk
— The Sun (@TheSun) February 25, 2019
It was rumored that the Academy had asked Kevin to take on the gig again following his apology, an idea that The Inquisitr previously detailed that talk show host Ellen DeGeneres was highly in favor of. Ultimately, however, Hart stuck with his decision to step down from the gig, and the Oscars ceremony last night went without a host for the first time in several years.
