I’ll keep this brief because if I don’t I’ll go on for pages.

As my colleague Brad Slager reported earlier today, Kevin Hart announced that he’d no longer be hosting the Oscars after a tidal wave of outrage over some comments he said years ago about hoping his son doesn’t turn out gay was brought back from the grave. Not only did he withdraw, but he also apologized for the comments despite the fact that he had addressed them repeatedly in the past.

I have made the choice to step down from hosting this year's Oscar's….this is because I do not want to be a distraction on a night that should be celebrated by so many amazing talented artists. I sincerely apologize to the LGBTQ community for my insensitive words from my past. — Kevin Hart (@KevinHart4real) December 7, 2018

I'm sorry that I hurt people.. I am evolving and want to continue to do so. My goal is to bring people together not tear us apart. Much love & appreciation to the Academy. I hope we can meet again. — Kevin Hart (@KevinHart4real) December 7, 2018

What were his comments that he was forced to apologize and lose a gig of a lifetime over? Yahoo explained on Wednesday:

In Hart’s 2010 comedy special Seriously Funny, he did a bit that had him saying that his “biggest fear” was his son “growing up and being gay.” He said, “Keep in mind, I’m not homophobic. I have nothing against gay people. Be happy. Do what you want to do. But me, as a heterosexual male, if I can prevent my son from being gay, I will.” He then launched into stories about his son, then 3, having his first gay moment with a friend and how he needed to “nip it in the bud” by screaming at him, “Stop, that’s gay!” Hart has since spoken about the joke, telling Rolling Stone in 2015 that it was really about his “own insecurities” as a parent, again reiterating he’s not homophobic and saying he “wouldn’t tell that joke today, because when I said it, the times weren’t as sensitive as they are now.

My first question is to ask what’s so homophobic about what he said.

Not wanting your son to be gay will more often than not have absolutely nothing at all to do with hating gay people. In fact, Hart makes it clear in the same breath that he’s not homophobic and that he’s perfectly happy with others doing what they want.

Oftentimes, the rejection of homosexuality has everything to do with his son securing a future that carries on the Hart family name and legacy through blood. It’s the desire for natural procreation, and to see your line continued. That’s an honest and innocent desire, and it’s a desire that won’t be achieved through homosexuality. You can adopt as many kids as you want and change their names, but at the end of the day, it’s still not your bloodline.

Perhaps Hart also has a religious disagreement with homosexuality, and so what if he does? Considering homosexuality a sin doesn’t mean that you hate the person engaging in the thing you find sinful. Plenty of people are liars, thieves, adulterers, and more. Do we automatically hate a person because he or she told a lie, or had sex out of wedlock?

If the religious as a majority did do that, then this would be a very hateful world. Luckily, despite the sensationalism, it’s not so bad as all that. I’ve seen more Christians get along with homosexuals and be friends with them than I have seen be hateful, and that’s because we’re taught to love the person and hate the sin.

Maybe it’s both of those things, maybe it’s neither, but either way, it’s very clear that Hart holds no hate for the LGBT community.

No apology was warranted on Hart’s part. The only reason he felt the need to do it is that the outrage mob demanded it and utilized intimidation and vitriol to make a good man feel like a bad one. THAT, my friends, is hatred and intolerance. A man who wishes no ill will on anyone was strung up in the digital square and abused until he emotionally collapsed under it.

Hart should not have apologized. It’s the ONLY thing he did wrong.

The reason his apology was wrong was not only because what he said wasn’t at all hateful despite what the PC outrage social justice mob claimed, but because through his apology he legitimized their outrage.

We as a society have to stop caving to these people and start withstanding the onslaught they dish at us. At the end of the day, it all just amounts to a massive tantrum by a bunch of people who care very little about their own emotional experiences. They’re shallow, bigoted, hateful, and intolerant, hypocritical, and it’s time we stop letting them bully people into the shadows.

Stop apologizing to these clowns.