Kevin Hart has been getting some harsh criticism about his most recent comedy special, Zero F–ks Given, particularly a bit in which he appeared to refer to his teenage daughter as a “hoe.”
Hart addressed the backlash on the Clubhouse social app last week, according to Complex, and soon took to Instagram to defend his work and promotion of the new show.
In the special, which was released on the Netflix streaming platform on Nov. 17, the comedian was delivering jokes from his living room to an intimate, socially distant audience when he began discussing his teenage daughter’s dating life.
He told a story about how his 15-year-old had frequent crushes on multiple boys at school in a short timespan, proceeding to quip that such behavior was deemed “hoe activity.”
“A week goes by, ‘Dad, I don’t like Rob no more.’ I like this boy named Tim,'” Hart recounted. ” “Instantly, in my mind, I said, ‘My daughter a hoe. This is hoe shit. This is hoe shit. Hoe activity right in front of my face.'”
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Hundreds gathered in a Clubhouse chat on Friday, in a room questioning Hart’s comic skills, where many women took issue with his commentary about his daughter and misogynistic language. Hart later joined in on the conversation on the audio-based social platform in an attempt to dispel their claims that he was being disrespectful.
Hart would also defend his discourse on Clubhouse as well, deeming such conversations were necessary to promote his special due to COVID-19. He made the comments in a video addressing critics that was posted to his Instagram page.
“Stop with the false narrative. It’s a false narrative that’s being created,” Hart said in the video post. “If you were in the Clubhouse and a part of the conversation, this wasn’t about Black women. … The question was asked about the joke about my daughter and me referencing my daughter having hoe-like activity.”
In reference to the joke about his daughter, he insisted he didn’t call her a “hoe.”
“I gave an answer to it. Here’s what it is, guys: I’m not calling my daughter a hoe, I’m saying what she did is hoe-like activity,” he said.
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“There is no other way to market or promote because we’re in a pandemic. I can’t go and do the talk shows that I once did or go out and do the public stunts,” Hart explained. “I have no other way to market and promote except to go viral. … It’s common sense here, guys. Marketing, promotion, that’s why I was in Clubhouse. Marketing, promotion, conversation, hence it leads to streams.”
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