On September 16, 2017, Kevin Hart posted a very personal video message on Instagram to his wife of one year, Enniko Parrish, and his children from previous relationship: daughter Heaven (age 12) and son Hendrix (age 9). Hart indicated in the video that a woman was attempting to extort money from him in order to keep a “sexually suggestive” recording of him with another woman private. In the social media post, Hart acknowledges that he made an “error in judgment” and that he was “not perfect.” He also was defiant in his refusal to give in to the extortionist’s demands, saying: “I’m also not going to allow a person to have financial gain off of my mistakes and in this particular situation that was what was attempted. I said I’d rather fess up to my mistakes.” Several days after the extortion plot first surfaced, the FBI claimed to have a suspect but did not release the name of the woman behind the plot.
Key Apologia Strategies:
Mortification, Attacking the Accuser, Bolstering
Video
Transcript
Um, I’m at a place in my life where I feel like I have a target on my back. And because of that I should make smart decisions. And recently, I didn’t. You know, I’m not perfect. I’m not going to sit up here and say that I am or claim to be in any way shape or form. And I made a bad error in judgment and I put myself in an environment where only bad things can happen and they did. And in doing that I know that I’m going to hurt the people closest to me, who I’ve talked to and apologized to, that would be my wife and my kids. And I just..,you know…It’s a shitty moment. It’s a shitty moment when you know you’re wrong and there’s no excuses for your wrong behavior. At the end of the day man, I just simply gotta do better. But I’m also not going to allow a person to have financial gain off of my mistakes and in this particular situation that was what was attempted. I said I’d rather fess up to my mistakes.”
Sources
Blas, L. (2017, September 17). Kevin Hart apologizes to wife, kids for ‘bad error in judgment’. USA Today. Retrieved from: https://www.usatoday.com/story/life/people/2017/09/17/kevin-hart-apologizes-wife-kids-video-error-judgment/674874001/
Kevin Hart multi-million dollar extortion demand, FBI has suspect. (2017, September 17). TMZ. Retrieved from: http://www.tmz.com/2017/09/17/kevin-hart-extortion-demand-multi-million-dollars-sex-tape-video/
Kevin Hart reveals alleged extortion attempt in apology to wife, kids (2017, September 17). Fox News. Retrieved from: http://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/2017/09/17/kevin-hart-reveals-alleged-extortion-attempt-in-apology-to-wife-kids.html
Lara, M. M., & Chiu, M. (2017, September 16). Kevin Hart apologizes to his wife and kids in emotional video after alleged extortion: ‘I’m not perfect’. People. Retrieved from: http://people.com/celebrity/kevin-hart-apologizes-eniko-parrish-extortion-video/
