For some people, 51-year-old comedian Chris Rock was the reason why they tuned in to watch the Oscars following the #OscarsSoWhite controversy and boycott of the event by some top Hollywood stars.
Chris kicked off the 88th Academy Awards with a speech heavy on the controversy, a reference to the Black Lives Matter movement, and a whole ton of satire.
Before the ceremony, he had been asked by many black celebs to quit the job as host of the event, but he stayed in the role and joked that by stepping down, he’ll be loosing another job to Kevin Hart, ‘They’re not going to cancel the Oscars because I quit and the last thing I need is to lose another job to Kevin Hart’ he said.
Here are 10 of his funniest and most controversial statements at the Oscars last night:
Is Hollywood racist?
You’re damn right Hollywood’s racist but no burning cross racist! It’s a different type of racist…
The Oscars’ other name:
Otherwise known as the White People’s Choice Awards
On his job:
If they nominated host, I wouldn’t even get this job – you’d be watching Neil Patrick Harris right now
On Kevin Hart:
They’re not going to cancel the Oscars because I quit, and the last thing I need is to lose another job to Kevin Hart
On why the #OscarsSoWhite controversy is happening now:
Why this year? Because we had real things to protest [in the sixties!] To busy being raped and lynched to care about how won Best Cinematography. When your Grandma’s swinging from a tree it’s really hard to really care about Best Documentary or Foreign Short.
On why it’s not a big deal that Jada Pinkett-Smith is not happy:
Jada Pinkett-Smith boycotting the Oscars is like me boycotting Rihanna’s panties, I wasn’t invited!
On other things in life that aren’t fair
You get mad that Will [Smith] was this good and didn’t get nominated? It’s also not fair that Will was paid $20 million for Wild Wild West
On the Black Lives Matter protest:
The In Memorium section is going to be different, this year it’s just going to be black people shot by the cops on the way to the movies. [stunned silence]. Yeah, I said it
On why they should have black and white categories like male and female:
Robert De Niro has never said: ‘I better slow this acting down so Meryl can catch up’
On racism at the Oscars:
Jamie Foxx won a Best Actor, he was so good in Ray that they went to the hospital and unplugged the real Ray Charles – we don’t need two of these.
