In an interview Thursday with Fresh Air's Terry Gross, Kevin Hart explained that people “choose” to be offended by anti-gay jokes.

Hart turned down an opportunity to host this year's Oscars after he was criticized over old homophobic tweets and jokes. He said that he would rather not host the awards show than apologize because he's previously apologized.

While Hart has apologized several times after turning down the hosting opportunity, some, including CNN anchor Don Lemon, questioned his sincerity. Lemon, who is gay, also noted that the news outlet could not find those past apologies Hart has repeatedly pointed to.

Hart told Gross that his apology was sincere.

“My apology was sincere when it was given, and I made it sincere when I gave it again, and my effort after that, when I gave another one, was just as sincere,” Hart said. “But it just seemed as if it was a never-ending cycle. So, I chose to just shut it down and say that I'm done with it, and move on from it.”

Gross pointed to jokes Hart made about stopping his son from being gay. In a tweet, he said that if he found his son playing with a dollhouse, he would break the house over his head. In his 2010 comedy special Seriously Funny, Hart said, “Every kid has a gay moment, but you have to stop it right there.”

“This sounds like when you had a son, you were afraid that your son was going to be gay,” Gross said. “So, what did gay mean to you then? What is it you were afraid of?”

“I think that's taking a joke and putting a context that you're determining it should be on it,” Hart responded. “The joke was made with light intentions. It's not that deep-rooted, but because of the time of today, people look at it, and they dissect it.”

"And then I say, but as a heterosexual male, if I can prevent my son from being gay, I would. It's a joke. It's called a segue. The segue was to get into the joke about something that really happened at a party where my son was playing, and there was another boy playing with him. And I was like, hey, all right, that's enough of that."

"But because times today are so sensitive, we forget the jokes are made with the intensive purpose of making people laugh, not to hurt. That's not the purpose behind the joke.”

"To me, when I did it, I thought that it would be funny. So if people choose to take offense to something, then that's a choice," he added.

Hart appeared on NRP to promote his latest film, The Upside.