When Ellen speaks, people listen! But will the Academy?

Ellen DeGeneres invited her pal Kevin Hart on the show and they ended up talking about the Oscars snafu, of course. In case you've forgotten, Hart was fired as host of the show following some old Tweets that were dug up in which he made homophobic comments. Ellen's gay, as we know, and she's one of the most influential people in Hollywood with some major pull ... so if she goes to bat for Hart to be re-invited to host the show after apologizing for the old Tweets, then we think it just might happen.

Hart told Variety just before taping the show that he was "done" with the Oscars but then during the taping, he told Ellen he's "evaluating" the idea. DeGeneres said she made a call to the Academy just before Hart arrived and asked if they'd still have him host: "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."

She went on to say to her audience and to Kevin: "As a gay person, I am sensitive to all of that. You’ve already expressed that it's not being educated on the subject, not realizing how dangerous those words are, not realizing how many kids are killed for being gay or beaten up every day. You have grown, you have apologized, you are apologizing again right now. You’ve done it. Don’t let those people win — host the Oscars."

This is sounding like basically a done deal to us -- it's sounding like a carefully orchestrated PR push to prepare the public for Hart's return. Otherwise, why wouldn't the Academy have found a replacement only two months out?

Meanwhile, some in the LGBT community and otherwise are criticizing Ellen for taking her position. One Twitter comment read, "I feel like if you’re not homophobic anymore, you shouldn’t mind apologizing for your past homophobia again and again and again. I don’t want to hear a hostile retelling of how we didn’t hear your meager apology the first time."

And also: "the people who brought up Kevin Hart's past tweets — like me — were not, as Ellen characterized, "haters." The host of the Oscars had made anti-gay jokes, and LGBT people who love the Oscars were legitimately startled to see just how harsh his words were."

And: "The only thing @KevinHart4real proved by going on Ellen was that he is a terrible actor with zero genuine remorse who didn’t have the decency to address his ignorance. No, they weren’t “haters” who came after you. It was the LGBTQI+ community because we’re sick to sh*t of it."

Okay, you get the idea ... so we wanna hear from YOU! Do YOU think Kevin Hart should (be allowed) to host the Oscars? And is Ellen right for supporting him or not?