Right on the lines
“Is Hollywood racist?” asked Chris Rock in his opening monologue at the 88th Academy Awards. He quickly answered his own question: “You damn right Hollywood’s racist.” Rock didn’t waste any time in getting right to the point, using the bulk of his 10- minute monologue to immediately address the # OscarsSoWhite controversy, which resulted from the lack of diversity in the acting categories. He took aim at actress Jada Pinkett Smith, who said she would boycott this year’s Oscars, joked that he thought about quitting and even mocked those who argue that asking actresses about fashion is sexist. “Hey, everything’s not sexism. everything’s not racism,” Rock said during his monologue. “They ask the men more because the men are all wearing the same outfits, OK?” It was topical and politically charged. Here are some of Rock’s standout lines:
“Now the thing is, why we protesting? That’s the big question. Why this Oscars? Why this Oscars, you know? It’s the 88th Academy Awards. It’s the 88th Academy Awards, which means this whole black nominees thing has happened at least 71 other times.”
“Jada says she’s not coming. Protesting. I’m like, ‘ Isn’t she on a TV show.’ Jada’s gonna boycott the Oscars? Jada boycotting the Oscars is like me boycotting Ri-
hanna’s panties. I wasn’t invited.”
“Is Hollywood racist? You damn right Hollywood’s racist, but it ain’t the racist that you’ve grown accustomed to. Hollywood is sorority racist.”
“We’ve got a black ‘ Rocky’ this year. Some people call it ‘ Creed.’ I call it black ’ Rocky.’ And that’s an unbelievable statement, because ‘ Rocky’ takes place in a world where white athletes are as good as black athletes. ‘ Rocky’s’ a
science fiction movie. There are things that happen in ‘ Star Wars’ that are more believable than things that happen in ‘ Rocky.’ ”
“This year, the Oscars, things are going to be a little different. Things going to be a little different at the Oscars. This year, in the In Memoriam package it’s just going to be black people that were shot by the cops on their way to the movies.”
todd. martens@ latimes. com