Via | HipHopDX
Chris Rock is the host for the 88th Annual Oscar Awards tonight (February 28).
During his opening monologue for the show, he addresses the controversy that surrounded the Academy after no Black actors or actresses were nominated in the leading and supporting role categories.
The opening montage for the show featured clips from Creed and Straight Outta Compton, both movies that featured Black actors in lead roles. There were also scenes from Star Wars, which featured Black actor John Boyega.
“I counted at least 15 Black people in that montage,” Rock says to start his piece.
Along the way, the comedian addresses those who asked him to not host the show in order to protest the lack of diversity recognized by the Academy.
“Well I’m here at the Academy Awards, otherwise known as the White People’s Choice Awards,” he says. “You realize if they nominated hosts, I wouldn’t even get this job. So you’d be watching Neil Patrick Harris right now. Here’s the crazy thing. This is the wildest, craziest Oscars to ever host ’cause we’ve got all this controversy, no Black nominees. People are like, ‘Chris, you should boycott. Chris you should quit. You should quit.’ How come it’s only unemployed people that tell you to quit something? No one with a job ever tells you to quit. So I thought about quitting. I thought about it real hard. But I realize they’re gonna have the Oscars anyway. They’re not gonna cancel the Oscars because I quit. And the last thing I need is to lose another job to Kevin Hart. I don’t need that. Kevin right there. Kevin makes movies fast. Every month. Porno stars don’t make movies that fast.”
Finish this story [here]
