Well, we knew that Chris Rock would take on Hollywood and the #OscarsSoWhite meme and the fact that no person of color was nominated in any of the four Academy Awards acting categories. We wanted him to take all that on. No one really wanted an un-diverse Oscar nominee slate, but having that happen the same year that the academy had picked one of the funniest and most bitingly honest comics on the issue of race to host the show was almost too delicious to be true. (And probably ratings gold. We’ll see when numbers come out.)
But who expected he would take on both sides? He mocked the people who chose to protest this year -- noting that if this is the 88th Oscars ceremony, surely in, at least, seven decades there were no black nominees. Or as he put it, “one of those years that Sidney didn’t put out a movie.” (That would be Sidney Poitier.)
OSCARS 2016: Full coverage | List of winners/nominees | #OscarsSoWhite controversy
Why no protests decades before, he asked? “Because we had real things to protest at the time,” he said (to applause) noting that black people “were too busy being raped and lynched to care about who won best cinematographer. When your grandmother is swinging from a tree, it’s really hard to care about who won best documentary foreign short.”
That’s funny -- well, sharp funny. And he went after Jada Pinkett Smith for boycotting the Oscars, jabbing her with: Isn’t she on a TV show? “Jada boycotting the Oscars is like me boycotting Rihanna’s panties. I wasn’t invited,” he told the audience to nervous laughter.
But he didn’t stop there, nor should he have. He did take on Hollywood, noting that racism in Hollywood was a complicated subject.
“Is it burning-cross racist? No. Is it ‘fetch me some lemonade’ racist? No.”
They just don’t hire many black people.
“You’re damn right Hollywood is racist. Hollywood is sorority racist. It’s like ‘we like you, Rhonda, but you’re not a Kappa.’ That’s how Hollywood is.”
And while he had a captive audience, he went on:
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The cast of Best Picture winner “Spotlight” takes a selfie backstage at the 88th Academy Awards at the Dolby Theatre.
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Director Tom McCarthy with the Oscar for best picture, “Spotlight.” (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
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Actress Stacey Dash speaks onstage during the 88th Annual Academy Awards at the Dolby Theatre on Feb. 28, 2016.
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Michael Keaton and the cast and producers of “Spotlight” celebrate after winning the Oscar for best picture.
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The production team and cast of Spotlight celebrate the award for best picture.
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Leonardo DiCaprio (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
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Brie Larson (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
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Alejandro Gonzalez Iñarritu, winner of Best Director with Tom Hardy
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Alejandro Gonzalez Iñarritu (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
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Lady Gaga performs (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
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Lady Gaga and abuse survivors (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
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Daisy Ridley and Dev Patel (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
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Vice President Joe Biden (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
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Director Laszlo Nemes (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
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Chris Rock and Girl Scouts (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
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Dave Grohl during the In Memoriam segment (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
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Whoopi Goldberg
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Kate Winslet and Reese Witherspoon (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
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Kate Winslet and Reese Witherspoon (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
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Chris Rock (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
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Asif Kapadia and James Gay-Rees (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
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Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
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Louis C.K. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
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Chris Rock (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
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Mark Rylance (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
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Mark Rylance thanks Steven Spielberg before accepting his Oscar for Best Actor in a Supporting Role
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Patricia Arquette (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
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Filmmakers Pato Escala Pierart and Gabriel Osorio Vargas (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
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The Weeknd performs (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
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The Weeknd performs (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
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The Weeknd performs (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
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Jonas Rivera and Pete Docter (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
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Girl Scouts sell cookies with Chris Rock (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
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David White, right, and Mark Mangini (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
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Marcos Taylor as Suge Knight
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Rachel McAdams and Michael B. Jordan (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
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Emmanuel Lubezki (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
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Priyanka Chopra, left, and Liev Schreiber (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
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Margaret Sixel (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
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Chris Evans, right, and Chadwick Boseman (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
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Benecio del Toro and Jennifer Garner (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
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Elka Warden, Lesley Vanderwalt and Damian Martin (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
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Presenters Margot Robbie and Jared Leto (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
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Colin Gibson and Lisa Thompson (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
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Cate Blanchett (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
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Tina Fey and Steve Carell (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
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CaJenny Beavan (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
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Alicia Vikander (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
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Adam McKay, front, and Charles Randolph with their Oscar for Best Adapted Screenplay.
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Sam Smith (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
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Sarah Silverman (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
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“The Big Short,” the anarchic, bracing broadside against Wall Street malfeasance, won the adapted screenplay Oscar at tonight’s 88th Academy Awards. The script was written by Charles Randolph and Adam McKay, who also directed. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
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Emily Blunt and Charlize Theron (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
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Chris Rock (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
“It’s not about boycotting anything. We want opportunity. We want black actors to get the same opportunities. And that’s it. Not just once. Leo gets a great part every year ... but what about the black actors?”
And he brought the issue up again throughout the night -- in a funny tableau in which black actors were inserted after the fact in the nominated movies of the year. And in other moments. Coming out of a commercial: “And we’re black -- I mean ‘back.’”
I think he did a great job under extraordinary circumstances. Yes, the issue of diversity may have come up a few times too many through the whole show. But on balance, Rock did what he should have done: make people a little uncomfortable. He was trying to deal with a real issue that he acknowledged was complicated. Whether that will change anything on the part of Hollywood power brokers, who knows? But nothing even starts to change until people seriously talk about this issue. Good for Chris Rock for raising it and never letting go.
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