Posted on 02/29/2016 3:48:19 AM PST by HomerBohn
LOS ANGELES - Despite repeated protests about its lack of diversity over the years, Hollywood does a fine job of engaging in repetitive amnesia about its pervasive and longstanding biases. Chris Rock, in other words, was in a target-rich environment on Sunday, and he didn't waste the opportunity.
Rock's scathing and generally well-crafted monologue at Sunday's Academy Awards recalled the episode of "Black-ish" that aired on the same network just a few days ago. Rock's opening minutes were entertaining, but they made an array of serious points.
"Is Hollywood racist?" he asked at the mid-point of his withering monologue, which had the audience laughing and occasionally cringing as well. It's not "cross-burning racist," he acknowledged.
"Hollywood is sorority racist," he said. "'We like you Rhonda -- but you're not a Kappa.'"
He recalled meeting President Obama at a Hollywood fundraiser, where Rock was one of only a few black attendees. In the few seconds he had with the President during a photo op, Rock quickly sketched out the slippery yet pervasive racism that pervades the entertainment industry.
"You see all these writers, producers and actors?" Rock remembered asking the president. "They don't hire black people -- and they're the nicest people on earth. They're liberals!"
Rock was unafraid of going to uncomfortable places, to his credit. The In Memoriam segment this year, he joked, would be a montage of black people shot by cops on their way to the movies. Mixed amid the awkward laughter were some "oohs," but Rock, a skilled stand-up comic of remarkable dexterity, wasn't fazed.
In the least-successful parts of his monologue, he digressed from his main theme. At one point, he riffed on Jada Pinkett Smith's boycott of the Oscars, noting that she's more known for her TV work than her film roles of late.
Pinkett Smith staying away from the ceremony would be like "me boycotting Rihanna's panties. I wasn't invited," Rock said.
The crass, unpleasant joke didn't quite land, nor did a rather tired joke at the end of his monologue about how actresses are protesting the superficial questions they're typically asked on red carpets. His mockery of "Ask her more" seemed out of place in a monologue that otherwise asked pointed questions about Hollywood's systematic biases.
"Everything's not sexism, everything's not racism!" Rock said, but it was hard not to wish he'd trained a little of the firepower he brought to the topic of race on the hurdles faced by actresses in a town with a long history of gender bias.
In the main, however, Rock was there to riff on how white Hollywood is, and on that topic, he was remarkably effective, which was no surprise (and those jokes were reinforced by some effective pre-taped segments starring previous Oscar host Whoopi Goldberg). There may not have been many protests like #OscarsSoWhite in the sixties (as he noted, "When you're grandmother's swinging from a tree, it's really hard to care about best documentary foreign short"), but it's not likely that anyone will forget about the issues of inclusion and bias in the coming year. Or will they?
Whatever happens in the Oscar race this year, as Rock noted, it's quite likely that Leonardo DiCaprio will get another great role in this year, and next year, and the year after that. Jamie Foxx and other black actors aren't likely to be as lucky.
"We want opportunity," Rock said. "We want black actors to get the same opportunities as white actors, that's it."
It wasn't a joke, but it came amid an array of jokes that gave no quarter to Rock's pampered audience. Let's just hope Rock doesn't have to say it all again next year
We should be tired of negroes and assorted white liberals trying to make us feel guilty about being white. I haven't watched the Oscars or the Grammies for years and don't intend to start. I know as much about Chris Rock as Hillary knows about Sunday school.
Barack Obama (or whatever his name is) has been the greatest disappointment for the voters who elected this twerp TWICE! Race relations, thanks to him and disgusting types like Al Sharpie, have sunk to an all time low due to his inserting himself into the fray and saying all the wrong things. But then, perhaps, this was his intent all along. His presidency has done much to set back gains made between the races many decades.
Rock was unafraid of going to uncomfortable places”
...there is no such place for a black performer. Provided he stay on the plantation, like Rock.
so much for MLK’s dream.
ALL the US does is judge people by the color of their skin.
white, guilty.
I guess I accidentally forgot to watch it again, like I have FOREVER.
Let me guess what happened. A bunch of liberals all patted themselves on the back for being the greatest thing on earth and then spent most of the time spreading their liberal agenda. Am I right?
The whole point of jive-talking google-eyed Rock/s dumbed-down comments was to make liberals “feel good” about themselves. Feeling good about themselves is the be-all and end-all among that crowd.
Forget about Rock/s sick white derangement syndrome....his room temperature grade intelligence level....his complete lack of professionalism, poise and personality.
Rock/s a big zero....he added up to nothing.
Let’s just hope Rock doesn’t have to say it all again next year”
...no matter what, he’ll say it all again. Next year there’ll be special segments devoted solely to blacks. It’ll showcase their difficult journey dealing with hate and how that journey has only just begun. Black only documentaries will come out this year. Movies will be reformulated to allow only blacks. “Soylent Black”, “Clockwork Black”, “The Black Mile”, “Moulin Black”.
It was Leonardo DiCaprio who jumped the shark.
Too bad Ol Sam Kinnison isn’t alive. He could host the BTV awards show. Watch out for next years Oscars. It will be reparations time. The only Oscar given to a white person next year will be for something like make-up or set design.
Americs’s blacks succeed in making everything about THEM and never accept responsibility for their own failures.
All of it enabled by American media and phony American White liberal guilt.
Meanwhile, it’s all paid for by America’s working taxpayers.
Anyone able to document DiCaprio’s carbon “footprint”.
Just wondering...the cartoons on Fox such as The Simpson’s and Family Guy, do those characters count as colored?
Has anyone come up with a specific name of a black who had an excellent performance last year and deserved a nomination? I honestly can’t think of one.
Just some idiots whose lives are spent imitating “art”.
"We want opportunity," Rock said. "We want black actors to get the same opportunities as white actors, that's it."
Chris Rock wants black people to portray J.Edgar Hoover, Howard Hughes, and the love interest in the Titanic?
I just think anybody who tunes into this stupid awards show is a big zero. We haven’t watched it in over 10 years - and we’re in show biz!
Big boat syndrome.
He’s over compensating for the little things in his life.
Same here...they couldn/t pay me to watch it.
That is hypocrisy at its finest.
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