October 24, 2017
Thom Carroll/PhillyVoice
Actor and comedian Kevin Hart speaks to the crowd gathered outside Max's Cheesesteaks at Germantown and Erie avenues on Thursday, July 6. His appearance in the neighborhood where he grew up was part of the city's 'Kevin Hart Day' celebration, during which a portrait of Hart was unveiled by Mural Arts Philadelphia.
Kevin Hart's social media presence walks a fine line between instigation and peacemaking. Most of the time, you'll find him running around, promoting his work or making fun of Dwayne Johnson. Then there are the times he has to figure out a way to respond to cheating allegations and trolls.
The North Philly-born comedian once neatly summed up his philosophy on haters: "without you, there is no us."
"Haters only hate on the things that they can only wish that they could do," Hart said in an Instagram post last May. "With that being said, are you a hater, or are you on the other side, fueling the hate? I suggest that we all fuel the hate. Give negative people a reason to be negative. Simply be positive, and be the best version of you that you can."
Nearly six months later, Hart was trolled by an Instagram user BET describes as an "infamous" Hart hater. It's tough to say how @buddieizreal has been getting under Hart's skin, though, because this latest volley compelled him to make his account private.
Hart's takedown captions a photo of the troll wearing a sleeveless sweater vest with a blunt dangling from his mouth.
And this is why it's a bad idea to toy with celebrities on social media.
Hart is currently promoting next year's "Irresponsible" tour, which will make stops in Wilkes Barre and Reading in March.
