Chris Rock jokes about Hollywood diversity issue as Academy hands out Oscars

[MatthewOU2015]

Chris Rock addressed Hollywood’s diversity controversy as the film industry handed out its shiny gold statues at the 88th Annual Academy Awards. “I counted at least 15 black people on that montage,” Rock joked after he hit the Oscar stage Sunday night following clips from the year’s nominated films. “You realize if they nominated hosts I wouldn’t even get this job. You’d be watching Neil Patrick Harris right now.”

Rock addressed the pressure on him to boycott the show.

“I thought about quitting, I thought about it real hard,” he said, before deciding. “They’re gonna have the Oscars anyway!”

Rock summed up racism in Hollywood.

“Everyone wants to know in the world, is Hollywood racist?” he said. “Is it ‘burning cross racist’? No. Is it ‘fetch me some lemonade racist’? No. It’s a different type of racist…. Hollywood is ‘sorority racist.’ It’s like, we like you Rhonda, but you’re not a Kappa.”

“We want opportunity,” Rock concluded. “We want black actors to get the same opportunities.”


http://www.foxnews.com/entertainment.../?intcmp=hpbt1

I don't see any Asians , Hispanics , Latinos , etc complaining about this. Also when are Caucasian people going to be nominated in BET awards?

[Kraenen]

Kind of strange he named a gay guy when complaining about diversity. I never got the issue. The Oscars are just some private organization that gives out awards to people it likes. These aren't government positions they're being elected to, when was it supposed to be representational, or have the job of promoting diversity for the whole country?

[Deleted]

Kind of strange he named a gay guy

NPH was the host for the Oscars in 2015, has hosted the Emmys twice and the Tonys four times. That's why he was mentioned. Not because he's gay.

[Mormolyce]

Black actors get less recognition mostly because there are so few good roles for black actors.

Because audiences won't see a movie with a lot of black actors under the assumption it's a "black movie". Unless it's Will Smith or Samuel L. Jackson.

I don't know how much you can blame the awards ceremonies for that. It's an unfortunate commercial reality.

Also when are Caucasian people going to be nominated in BET awards?

Makes sense I guess, since the Oscars are designed to recognise white talent.

....Wait.

[Icuren]

I don't see any Asians , Hispanics , Latinos , etc complaining about this.

Really? Because I have. The whole "nothing but white people" includes all non white people.

[Anastacy]

NPH was the host for the Oscars in 2015, has hosted the Emmys twice and the Tonys four times. That's why he was mentioned. Not because he's gay.

I think the irony is that...NPH would be considered "diversity".

Just not..."black" diversity.

[Krille]

I think the irony is that...NPH would be considered "diversity".

Just not..."black" diversity.

And you don't think that's the joke? Do you think Chris Rock is stupid?

[chrisberb]

I don't see any Asians , Hispanics , Latinos , etc complaining about this. Also when are Caucasian people going to be nominated in BET awards?

White people have been nominated for BET awards (NAACP awards too)

[Anastacy]

And you don't think that's the joke? Do you think Chris Rock is stupid?

What are you even on about? That, if a voting process were in effect, a white gay man would be voted over a straight black man? Chris's complaint is still that it's not a black person, but claims "diversity! diversity!"

Gay people are considered diversity...

[GodlyBob]

Black actors get less recognition mostly because there are so few good roles for black actors.

Because audiences won't see a movie with a lot of black actors under the assumption it's a "black movie". Unless it's Will Smith or Samuel L. Jackson.

I don't know how much you can blame the awards ceremonies for that. It's an unfortunate commercial reality.



Makes sense I guess, since the Oscars are designed to recognise white talent.

....Wait.

Of course not, the Oscars are a place to celebrate all theatrical talent while BET was created because there wasn't an alternative for...

Ohhhh, I see what you did there.

[derpkitteh]

make stuff good enough to get nominated = it gets nominated.

there were latinos nominated, what are the blacks gonna say about that? this whole thing's a load of shit.

[GodlyBob]

And you don't think that's the joke? Do you think Chris Rock is stupid?

I've heard some very reputable people say that all black people are unintelligent. Very reputable people with sources and everything!

[Wells]

make stuff good enough to get nominated = it gets nominated.

Let's not even pretend there is some objective metric for the Academy.

[Kraenen]

Black actors get less recognition mostly because there are so few good roles for black actors.

Has anyone done a real analysis with the demographics?

[Megitsune]

I don't see any Asians , Hispanics , Latinos , etc complaining about this. Also when are Caucasian people going to be nominated in BET awards?

First of all if you haven't noticed over time, black people tend to be the most outspoken when it comes to racial issues in America, and other races benefit. Secondly, yeah it's definitely about all non white. Asians, Hispanics, etc all are not represented. There are barely any nominations/awards given to any non white people.

[Kraenen]

Let's not even pretend there is some objective metric for the Academy.

Let's not pretend their job is to be objective or representative.

[Cernunnos]

He's right on the opportunity thing.

I'm trying the think of a role that any black actor or actress was in that is worth nominating their performance for. They only two actors I can think of that were in anything notable recently are John Boyega in Star Wars and Anthony Mackay in Avengers. Neither role is worth a nomination unless ensemble cast is a category, not sure if it is.

There were no nominations for black actors this year since there just weren't any role/actors worth nominating. Look at previous years in which there were some worthy of a nomination, Denzel Washington wins for Training Day, Halle Berry wins for monsters ball, Will Smith won for Ali, Jamie Foxx won for Ray, I think the guy from 12 years a slave was nominated. Maybe if black people stopped doing crappy movie roles that perpetrate stereotypes like in movies like Ride Along, Hot Tub Time Machine and Soul Plane and did some roles of substance they would be nominated, but this harks back to the diversity/oppurtunity thing, these types of roles are the majority of what is offered to black actors, then when something good finally does come along, they get nominated and often end up winning for it.

[chrisberb]

This was a great segment on "Last Week Tonight"

[Alefnir]

Maybe the movies that were nominated just happened to be largely 'white' movies this year? Lots of assumptions without solid evidence that lead to accusations of racism being thrown around.

[Simulacrum]

Why do so many people care about this fabricated controversy? Minorities aren't underrepresented relative to the US population, so... it's just made up, to have something to complain about.

Incidentally, how are some of the richest, most privileged people in the entire world taken seriously when they complain about their situation?

What the fuck is wrong with these people? And everyone who takes them seriously?

Wait... this post now constitutes me caring about this nontroversy... at least a tiny, tiny bit, which is far more than it deserves. Goddamn it, it roped me in.