Kevin Hart is the offence archaeologists’ latest victim

Another day, another scalp. Another public figure put in the stocks for ‘speechcrimes’. Another individual forced out of a job because he has the wrong opinions and because he made ‘inappropriate’ jokes. This time it’s the American comedian Kevin Hart, who has announced that he is stepping down as the host of next year’s Oscars because people found old tweets in which he said jokey or mean things about gay people. Get rid. Cast him out. Another blasphemer to be thrown on the metaphorical fire.

Hart — a stand-up comic turned star of blockbuster Hollywood movies — went from Oscar presenter to persona non grata in a stunningly short period of time. Forty-eight hours, to be precise. That’s how long it took for the tragic trawlers to discover that Hart has indeed committed crimes against political correctness. ‘Offence archaeologists’, as the American leftist Freddie deBoer referred to them: that ‘little army of online busybodies who comb reports of behaviour, comments and written work from a person’s past to identify material perceived as transgressing contemporary norms’.