Kevin Hart: 'You Get to See Me as a Thug' in Get Hard
Kevin Hart and Will Ferrell's new movie, Get Hard, is as broad a comedy as they come, but through humor attempts to tackle some of the biggest issues facing America today.
The film follows the story of a pompous investment banker (Ferrell) given a sentence of 10 years' hard time for running a Ponzi scheme. He recruits a car washer in his building (Hart) to coach him on how to survive in prison, assuming that he's been to prison simply because he's Black.
The film jokes its way to the heart of a very serious problem — how society sees Black men — and treads some very risky ground with its humor when Hart's character tries to incite Ferrell's character to use the n-word.
We caught up with the film's stars, including T.I., who shines in a supporting role, to talk about the implications of that word and whether parts, or all, of the population should be banned from using it. "At the end of the day, people love to say, 'This is a word that Black people can use and white people can't,'" says Hart. "If you don't want somebody to use the word, then I think you have to stop using it yourself. We can't contradict ourselves and get upset." He adds the caveat, "But, I stay out of those particular conversations."
T.I. has a more definitive position on use of the word. "Unacceptable. Unacceptable on all accounts, all the way around," he says.
Check out our interview with Will Ferrell, Kevin Hart and T.I. below, and get your tickets for Get Hard, which opens today.
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(Photo: Warner Bros. Pictures)