Kevin Hart is standing up for himself after fellow stand-up comedian Katt Williams called him a hack.
While the comedians have publicly squabbled for years now, Williams recently accused Hart of being an industry plant and stealing movie roles from under his nose. Hart returned a modicum of fire Wednesday but brushed those remarks off as showmanship.
“It’s just that,” he told WSJ Magazine interview published Wednesday. “It’s entertainment. If that’s what he fuels himself off, God bless him. Good for him. I hope he gets all that he needs and he wants, and I’m here cheering for him from afar. That’s my real energy. I really mean it!”
“That’s how happy and secure I am with my career and my life,” Hart continued.
The “Friday After Next” actor had made a viral appearance on the “Club Shay Shay” podcast in January and slammed Hart as an alleged “gatekeeper” into the comedy industry — and said “no one in Hollywood has a memory of going to a sold-out Kevin Hart show.”
“Have we heard of a comedian that came to LA, and in his first year in LA, he had his own sitcom on network television, and had his own movie called ‘Soul Plane’ that he was leading? No. We’ve never heard of that before that person or since that person. What do you think a plant is?” Williams said.
“I do know what I’ve done for the craft of comedy,” Hart told WSJ Magazine this week.
“By that I mean I’ve changed the business of stand-up comedy,” he continued. “Whether you’re a fan or not, you have to respect what I’ve done. Point-blank. Because you don’t do it by accident— and you don’t stay here by accident.”
Those words marked a stark tune change from January when he likened Williams to “a circus” and called his antics “horseshit” in an episode of ESPN’s “NBA Unplugged with Kevin Hart.”
The Philadelphia comic conquered the industry by storm in the 2010s and has delivered several specials and packed sold-out arenas ever since. Hart recently embarked on a joint tour with Chris Rock and was joined by Dave Chappelle onstage last year.
The professional comic hasn’t always been gracious, however, and accused Williams in a 2018 appearance on “The Breakfast Club” of not showing up to work due to the influence of drugs. Williams denied ever having done a “hard drug” in his life on “Club Shay Shay.”