Rock’s mocks both industry prejudice and ceremony boycotters with equal intensity.
“Is Hollywood racist?” he asked. “You’re damn right Hollywood’s racist.” Rock qualified his comments by saying that the industry was not “burning cross racist … it’s a different type of racist”.
He told a story about attending a fundraiser at the White House, and telling the President that his fellow – white – showbiz guests “don’t hire black people and they’re the nicest white people on earth; they’re liberals.”
Their prejudice, he continued, is “sorority racist, like ‘We like you, Ronda, but you’re not a Kappa.’”
Rock stayed true to his take-no-prisoners stand-up style throughout the opener, offering up commentary on police violence and skewering the Hollywood elite for choosing not to show up. On why he didn’t boycott the Oscars on principle: “The last thing I need is to lose another job to Kevin Hart!”
Rock said that other years, black people didn’t protest the Oscars because they were “too busy being raped and lynched to care about who won Best Cinematographer. When your grandmother’s swinging from a tree, it’s really hard to care about Best Documentary Foreign — Short.”
Rock concluded: “We want opportunity – give black actors the same opportunities as white actors. That’s it. Leo gets a great part every year. What about Jamie Foxx?”
Kudos!
