A day after the Academy Awards announced that Kevin Hart would host this year's Oscars, Hart has stepped down amid a growing backlash over old tweets in which he used gay slurs.

In one tweet from 2011, Hart wrote “Yo if my son comes home & try’s 2 play with my daughters doll house I’m going 2 break it over his head & say n my voice ‘stop that’s gay.'” In an earlier tweet, Hart commented on actor Damien Dante Wayans' profile picture: “Why does @DamienDW profile pic look like a gay bill board for AIDS.” He also posted a joke about actor Wayne Brown: “Why does @wayne215 have so many pictures of me in his phone!!! What ru some type of FAT FAG that takes pic of small black men all day?”

Hart, who is overseas, reportedly did not even bother to remove the offensive jokes until after he had landed the Oscar hosting job.

On Thursday, Hart dismissed the furor in an Instagram post.

“Stop looking for reasons to be negative,” he captioned a video of himself. “Stop searching for reasons to be angry....I swear I wish you guys could see/feel/understand the mental place that I am in. I am truly happy people....there is nothing that you can do to change that....NOTHING. I work hard on a daily basis to spread positivity to all...with that being said. If u want to search my history or past and anger yourselves with what u find that is fine with me. I'm almost 40 years old and I'm in love with the man that I am becoming. You LIVE and YOU LEARN & YOU GROW & YOU MATURE. I live to Love...Please take your negative energy and put it into something constructive.”

“I LOVE EVERYBODY.....ONCE AGAIN EVERYBODY,” he added.

Hart repeated much of what he wrote in the attached video, which was shot as he lay in a bed shirtless save for some chains around his neck.

Later, in a separate video, he said that the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences had given him an ultimatum: Apologize or be fired.

“I chose to pass on the apology,” Hart said, adding that he's “addressed this several times. … I've moved on and I'm in a completely different place in my life.”

In a tweet, he added: “I sincerely apologize to the LGBTQ community for my insensitive words from my past. I'm sorry that I hurt people. I am evolved and want to continue to do so.”