For Jerry Seinfeld, the fallout between Kevin Hart and the Oscars is the award show’s problem, not Hart’s.
“Kevin is in a position because he’s a brilliant comedian to kind of decide what he wants to do,” Seinfeld told Willie Geist in a preview clip of a “Sunday Today” interview. “He doesn’t have to step down, but he can.”
Seinfeld, 64, who has commented on comedians under fire throughout the years, thinks Hart will walk away unscathed from his drama of stepping down from hosting the award show after catching backlash from homophobic tweets that resurfaced from several years ago.
“Who got screwed in that deal?” he asked. “I think Kevin’s gonna be fine, but find another Kevin Hart, that’s not so easy, he’s a brilliant guy with a movie career.”
But Seinfeld thinks navigating the landscape of an evolving audience comes with being a comedian.
“Most of the time comedians are expected to be the most agile in terms of how we think and construct our thoughts and what comes out of our mouths,” he explained. “We have been navigating these slalom gates forever.”
“It’s like Lindsay Vonn,” he joked referring to the Olympic skier. “Wherever you put the gates, I’m gonna make them, that’s the gig.”
The full interview will air Sunday, December 16 on NBC.
This article originally appeared in Page Six.