• Prodded by Ellen DeGeneres, comic Kevin Hart says he's reconsidering his decision to step down as host of the Academy Awards. Hart had backed away two days after being named host last month when some homophobic tweets he had made a decade ago resurfaced. But DeGeneres urged him to host the show during an interview that aired Friday on her talk show. The motion picture Academy has not named a replacement host for its Feb. 24 awards show. "You have grown," DeGeneres told him. "You have apologized. You're apologizing again right now. You've done it. Don't let these people win. Host the Oscars." She applied subtle pressure by saying after one commercial break, "We're back with this year's Oscars host, Kevin Hart." Hart told her that "you have put a lot of things on my mind" and that he would think about their conversation. He also said that when his old messages resurfaced, "what was once the brightest light ever just got real dark." He initially said he wouldn't apologize because he had addressed the issue several times. But given an ultimatum to apologize, he did so and stepped down. If there's a campaign to get him back, it couldn't have started more slickly: on the hugely successful talk show run by one of Hollywood's most prominent gay celebrities, who hosted the Oscars herself in 2007. DeGeneres said she called the Academy this week to urge that Hart be brought back, and was told that officials would be "thrilled" if he did. An Academy representative did not immediately return a message for comment.
• The current season of Neil deGrasse Tyson's "StarTalk" series is on hold amid sexual misconduct claims against the prominent astrophysicist. The National Geographic channel said Thursday that new episodes of the science-based talk show won't air until an investigation involving Tyson is completed, which could be within the next few weeks. Late last November, National Geographic Networks and Fox said they would examine claims that Tyson behaved in a sexually inappropriate manner toward two women. Tyson was host of "Cosmos: Possible Worlds" on Fox in 2014. A new edition of the series was set to air in March on the network and on National Geographic. He has denied an accusation that he groped a woman and denied making sexual advances toward a production assistant at his home. Tyson apologized for making the assistant feel uncomfortable. He has said he will cooperate fully with an "impartial investigation." "StarTalk" began its fifth season Nov. 12, with a handful of episodes aired before the show was put on hold.
A Section on 01/05/2019