"Needs to give up that mic": NBA fans rain down fury on Kevin Hart's attention stealing ASG gig
Actor-comedian Kevin Hart faced the wrath of NBA fans online during his first appearance as an All-Star emcee on Sunday. The Philadelphia native was chosen to be the first-ever on-court emcee to host the proceedings of the All-Star game in San Francisco.
The fans' disapproval stemmed from Hart's conspicuous jokes before the semi-final match between Kenny Smith's Young Stars and Charles Barkley's Global Stars. Kevin could be seen making jokes about Barkley while teasing Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and asking Shaq to "shut up."
His interaction on the court was posted on X (formerly Twitter) by the official NBA account and they captioned the post with a short note.
"What a delight having Kevin Hart... the first-ever on-court emcee for #NBAAllStar," the caption read.
Although the NBA media team considered Hart a "delight," fans disagreed, viewing his performance on the court as attention-seeking. Many voiced their displeasure in the comments section of the post with one fan in particular asking the comedian to lay down the mic.
"Kevin Hart needs to give up that mic for life," he wrote.
Fans continued to denounce Hart's time on the mic in the comments section.
"If that's delight, i dont want any more of it for the rest of my life," expressed one fan.
"Never do that again," wrote another.
"Please mute Kevin Hart's mic next time," pleaded a third.
"Delight isn't the word I would use..." commented a fourth.
Despite heavy criticism, there were few who enjoyed Kevin's time on the mic.
"Kevin Hart did a decent job," a fan wrote, showing his support for Hart.
The new All-Star game format, which features four teams in a mini-tournament, introduced a significant change. However, it seems like improvements are still needed in the emceeing.
Kevin Hart shares special tribute to 'Inside the NBA' crew for their final All-Star game together
Despite his backlash for his attention-grabbing emceeing work on Sunday, Kevin Hart was part of an emotional moment during the All-Star game. The comedian was on the mic to bid farewell to Kenny Smith, Shaquille O'Neal, Charles Barkley and Ernie Johnson Jr. as they took part in their last All-Star game as a team of four.
The TNT crew is set to disband after multiple years together as the network's parent company, Warner Bros was unable to secure NBA media rights for the upcoming seasons. Hart, however, made sure the four men got the respect they deserved as he shared a special tribute for the crew.
"It's honestly in my best interest to take this moment to pay homage to four legends, four legends that have made the game of basketball nothing short of amazing," Hart said.
Hart expressed his love and admiration for the four of them by presenting gifts. The first gift was signed jerseys for each, featuring the signatures of all this season's All-Stars. The second gift was a customized ring for each individual. Additionally, Kevin contributed a third gift: a fishing rod for all four of them, jokingly suggesting that they retire and ride off into the sunset together.