MANSFIELD: Kevin Hart

The greatest wordsmith of this or just about any other time, Bob Dylan, once wrote, “I try my best to be just like I am, but everybody wants me to be just like them.” I’ve always accepted gays just the way they are, but I’m becoming increasingly concerned that some in that community are becoming bullies.

Giving voice to homophobia is no longer acceptable in the public sphere (thank God), but apologies should be. As a good friend of mine told me years ago, “You shouldn’t have to apologize for the same thing more than once.”

Kevin Hart is a standup comic, and comics oftentimes say offensive things; that’s what he gets paid to do. But there are lines that shouldn’t be crossed, and in 2010 he crossed one of them with comments he made regarding homosexuals. He later apologized for those homophobic remarks.

But evidently, his apology isn’t being accepted by some in the LGBTQ community. When he was tapped to host the Oscars the Internet went wild. Hart was roundly criticized by the gay community for past remarks, but all he did in response was to refer to his previous apology. I don’t blame him.

Nonetheless, that wasn’t enough to blunt the criticism. In response Hart stepped down from the gig, saying that he didn’t want to be a distraction on a big night for those in the movie industry. That was the right thing to do.

However, the over-the-top response by some in the LGBTQ community (and their refusal to accept his apology) is somewhat frightening and brings to mind two words: witch hunt. Now that the worm has turned and gays now have power and have the public on their side, are some in that community going to be as brutal and unfair as some were to them in the past? That would be a tragedy.

This Hart dustup brings to mind the somewhat comedic comment supposedly made by a gay person at a rally a few years ago: “I won’t be satisfied with homosexuality being made legal — I demand that it be made mandatory!” Cute, really cute.

Some folks need to get up off it. What kind of sex one has for about a hot 10 minutes at night should not define the other 23 hours and 50 minutes of their day, should it? Get a life, and enjoy it.

From CoolCleveland correspondent Mansfield B. Frazier mansfieldfATgmail.com. Frazier’s From Behind The Wall: Commentary on Crime, Punishment, Race and the Underclass by a Prison Inmate is available in hardback. Snag your copy and have it signed by the author at http://NeighborhoodSolutionsInc.

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