That Kevin Hart apology from 2018 felt fake to me then but now I wonder if we were too harsh

I used to think any apology with PR wording was automatically a lie, but after seeing how my own kid handled a mistake last month I'm starting to question if we demand too much from public figures who can never say the perfect thing.

3 comments

3 Comments

emma963d ago

Used to roll my eyes at any celebrity apology, figured it was all damage control written by some PR team. But then I caught myself getting mad at a coworker for a half-assed apology last week and realized I've been doing the same thing to people online. The whole thing is just messy - we want them to sound sorry but not too rehearsed, take blame but not grovel, and say the right thing without sounding like a robot. Kevin Hart probably just panicked like anyone would when they're in front of cameras. Maybe we should judge the apology by what they do after, not just the first words out of their mouth.

emma_wells832d ago

That part about judging by what they do after is spot on, but Kevin Hart's apology was mostly about losing the Oscars gig not really acknowledging why people were upset in the first place. A good apology means owning the specific problem without excuses, and he kept focusing on the career fallout instead of the actual jokes he made. The real test is whether someone changes their behavior going forward, but Hart never really did that with his comedy either.

stella_scott963d ago

Tbh we never talk about how the apology itself becomes the story instead of whatever they did.