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Kevin Hart is speaking out about his decision to step down from his Oscars hosting gig after homophobic remarks from his past resurfaced.

Hart was set to host the Academy Awards in 2019, but members of the LGBTQ community sabotaged him by using the hashtag #OscarsSoHomophobic and resurfaced previous tweets in which the comedian used anti-gay slang.

In a new interview with Men’s Health, Hart claims he now sees why folks were fired up about his remarks.

“With the whole Oscars thing, there was a big gap between what I thought the problem was versus what the problem really was,” he said. “I got ten years where I made sure not to joke or play in the way that I did back then because it was a problem. I don’t care if you’re gay or not gay. I’m a people person. I’m going to love you regardless. It wasn’t until close friends like Wanda Sykes, Lee Daniels and Ellen DeGeneres talked to me and explained what they didn’t hear me say that I understood. Then I was like, ‘Oh s—, I did f— up.’”

Hart previously appeared on “The Ellen DeGeneres Show” and noted how he had already apologized for his remarks and felt the new criticism was “an attack to end me.”

“I know who I am,” he said on Ellen. “I know I don’t have a homophobic bone in my body. I know I’ve addressed it, I know I’ve apologized. I know that within my apologies, I’ve taken 10 years to put my apology to work. I’ve yet to go back to that version of the immature comedian that once was. I’ve moved on. I’m cultured. I’m manufactured. I’m a guy that understands now. I look at life through a different lens and because of it, I live life in a different way.”

“I had to address it and apologize and say I understand what those words do and how they hurt,” Hart continued. “I understand why people would be upset, which is why I made the choice to not use them anymore. I don’t joke like that anymore because that was wrong. That was a guy who was just looking for laughs and I don’t do that anymore.”

Elsewhere in the Men’s Health interview, Hart discusses the recovery process following his car crash in September.

“Now I’m doing a lot of little things that are important,” he continued. “I’m sitting with the kids before and after dinner. We are doing Taco Tuesdays, Mexican-food Thursdays, Chinese-food Sundays. We got movie night twice a week. Now I’m walking my fucking dog. I’m picking up dog shit.”

Read the full interview here.

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