New leaf?

Kevin Hart will ring in the new year with a rapper who officiated a gay marriage

Kevin Hart, Las Vegas
Kevin Hart

Via Instagram, comedian Kevin Hart recently announced that he’ll host a New Year’s Eve event in Las Vegas along with Lil’ Wayne, a rapper who once officiated a same-sex marriage between two men. Hart’s announcement comes on the heels of his resigning as host of the 2019 Oscars over homophobic comments he made earlier in his career.

In an Instagram video posted one day ago, Hart said, “Oh my god. Holy shneaky-diddles. New Year’s Eve weekend in Vegas in Drai’s is about to be unreal. Unreal? I’m talking about one of the biggest and best lineups in the world.”

He continued, “You got my man Fab, you got Lil’ Wayne, you got Sean, you got Future, you got the countdown hosted by yours truly, Kevin Hart. It’s not gonna get any bigger, it’s not gonna get any better.”

He concluded, “Come to Vegas celebrate with us at Drai’s, man. It is going down! Let’s bring the New Year right. Bring it in with a smile, baby. Live, love and laugh. I’ll see you soon.”

The co-hosts include the rappers Fabulous, Big Sean, Lil’ Wayne and Future Hendrix. Drai’s itself is a “multi-level rooftop hotspot boasting more than 25,000 square feet of plush offerings.”

A quick Google search of the rappers’ pasts show that none of them is markedly anti-gay. In fact, Lil’ Wayne has been dogged with gay rumors over his flashy fashion choices and his officiating of a same-sex marriage while in prison.

Lil' Wayne
Lil Wayne

Wayne’s memoir Gone Til’ November includes a passage mentioning Wayne and his fellow inmates decorating a prison area with tissue paper flowers and streamers, and later toasting the couple with 13 bottles of Gatorade.

In it, Wayne wrote, “Imagine seeing grown-ass men in jail hanging tissue for wedding decorations. AND one of them is Lil’ Wayne. Crazy.”

Related: Wanda, Jaboukie and 8 hilarious Oscar hosts who could make us forget Kevin Hart

Hart’s Las Vegas gig is the first we’ve heard following his resignation as the host of the 2019 Oscars. After resigning on December 6, 2018, Hart apologized to the LGBTQ community despite initially refusing to apologize for anti-gay jokes and slurs he made in 2010 and 2011.

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