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Lena Waithe Thinks This “Lit” Lesbian Comic Should Host the Oscars

"I hope it’s somebody black and somebody funny."

Out Emmy winner Lena Waithe has some thoughts about Kevin Hart, who has bowed out of hosting the 91st Academy Awards amid backlash surrounding his homophobic Twitter history.

Hart repeatedly made anti-gay comments in a series of now-deleted tweets published between 2009 and 2011, even threatening his son with violence if he caught him playing with dolls, and insulted various celebrities by calling them “gay” or “fag.”

Before stepping down from the Oscars gig and issuing an apology to the LGBTQ community, Hart initially declined to apologize, insisting he had addressed the situation “several times” already. On Instagram he told people to “stop looking for reasons to be angry,” claiming he would “stand his ground” and not “feed the internet trolls.”

“I kind of wish that he would have taken a moment to let it be a teachable moment and to say, ‘Hey, what I said wasn’t right and I want to make that right,’ not just to keep the gig, but because there are people in this world that are born different, that are born gay, that are born trans, that are born intersex, that are born asexual, that are born lesbian,” Waithe told Variety this week at GQ’s Men of the Year party.

“That’s how God chose to make them," continued the busy actor, writer, and producer, "so I think as a nation, we need to embrace every single person as they are and I think until we can do that, we’re going to keep bumping up against these things.”

So who should replace Hart as Oscars host? “Let Donald Glover do it,” Waithe said. “Donald would be dope. He’d be funny. I would like that. Let’s make sure [whoever hosts], they’re black.”

Lesbian comedian Wanda Sykes, known for adding laughs to films like Monster-in-Law and TV shows like Curb Your Enthusiasm, also has Waithe's vote.

J. Merritt/Getty Images for GLAAD

backstage at the 29th Annual GLAAD Media Awards at The Beverly Hilton Hotel on April 12, 2018 in Beverly Hills, California.

“Wanda would be lit,” she said. “I vote for Wanda or Donald or get Chris Rock back in there. Let’s get Eddie [Murphy] out of the house... I hope it’s somebody black and somebody funny.”

For her work on Netflix’s Master of None, Waithe, an outspoken champion of LGBTQ visibility and acceptance, made history as the first woman of color to win an Emmy for writing for a comedy series.

Waithe, who famously attended this year's Met Gala wearing a rainbow cape, appeared on the April 2018 cover of Vanity Fair. “I am tired of white folks telling my stories," she told the magazine. "Can’t no one tell a black story, particularly a queer story, the way I can, because I see the God in us."

At the MTV Movie Awards in June, the Ready Player One star memorably dedicated her Trailblazer Award to the legendary performers in Paris Is Burning.

After creating The Chi for Showtime, Waithe is currently developing an HBO comedy series for social media star Kid Fury. She's also producing a Boomerang TV series with Halle Berry.

Sykes, who publicly quit as a consulting producer on Roseanne following Barr's racist tweet, recently made headlines for trolling Sen. Ted Cruz.

The Oscars will be held on February 24, 2019. A replacement host has not yet been announced.

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