Rant: That Kevin Hart apology from 2018 hit different after I watched his old standup specials

I was scrolling through Netflix the other night and ended up watching Kevin Hart's old specials back to back with his 2018 apology video, and I noticed how his joke cadence and energy matched exactly when he said he'd 'changed.' It got me wondering if anyone else thinks you can spot a fake public apology by comparing it to how the person performs when they're being genuine?

3 comments

3 Comments

ward.anna8d ago

I've watched enough public apologies to know the face and tone change tells you everything. The vocal fry and slight upward lilt at the end of sentences usually disappears when someone is reading a script they didn't write. If you watch the apology and then the standup and the cadence matches exactly, you're probably right that it's a performance not a real change.

wright.leo8d ago

Yeah, the point about vocal fry disappearing is interesting. I actually heard a linguist on a podcast once talk about how people's pitch naturally goes up when they're lying or performing versus when they're just talking normally. And the thing with Hart is that his whole stage persona is built on this VERY specific rhythm and timing. You can spot it in his apology because he's doing the same thing he does on stage where he pauses for effect before dropping a line. When someone is being real, they stumble and stop and restart sentences, they don't have that polished flow.

emma_wells838d ago

You ever see a friend's recorded apology sound exactly like their work voicemail? Weird, right?