Ellen Degeneres Told Kevin Hart She Called the Academy Asking to Reinstate Him as Oscar Host; They Are Interested.

Kevin Hart could be coming back as host of the 91st Academy Awards. In an upcoming interview on the “Ellen” show, set to air this Friday, Hart told host Ellen DeGeneres that he is “reconsidering” his decision to step down as host after DeGeneres revealed that she called the Academy to ask its leaders to reconsider having Hart host the Oscars.

DeGeneres on Friday said she called the Academy on Thursday because she wanted Hart to host [via THR] "I called them, I said, 'Kevin’s on, I have no idea if he wants to come back and host, but what are your thoughts?' And they were like, 'Oh my God, we want him to host! We feel like that maybe he misunderstood or it was handled wrong. Maybe we said the wrong thing but we want him to host. Whatever we can do we would be thrilled. And he should host the Oscars.'”

Hart responded, surprised, by saying he would definitely "assess" whether he was interested in reprising hosting duties, adding, "Leaving here, I promise you, I'm evaluating this conversation. This is a conversation I needed to have, I'm glad that I had it here, and I'm glad that it was as authentic and real as I could have hoped that it would be. So let me assess, just to sit in this space and really think, and you and I will talk before anything else."

More to come ....