Chris Rock opened up the 88th Academy Awards Sunday night with a scathing monologue about racism in Hollywood and the #OscarsSoWhite controversy.
The comedian came out firing immediately after the ceremony’s opening montage of the year in film.
“I counted at least 15 black people in that montage,” he quipped to nervous laughter. He welcomed everyone to the Oscars, “otherwise known as the White People’s Choice Awards.”
“If they nominated hosts, I wouldn’t even get this job,” he continued, again to hesitant applause and laughter.
Rock then tried to describe why the outrage over the lack of any nonwhite acting nominations was such a big deal this year as opposed to in the past, like the 1950s or ’60s.
“People were too busy being raped and lynched to worry about who wins best cinematographer,” he said to gasps.
Then he dropped a bombshell.
“The in memoriam package will just be black people who were shot by the cops on the way to the movies.” No one in the audience seemed to know how to react to that one.
Rock then recounted a President Obama fundraiser he attended where he got to take a photo with the president. He said that as he was leaning in for the photo, he briefly described his take on racism in Hollywood to the commander in chief.
“Mr. President, you see all these writers and producers and actors,” he said. “They don’t hire black people. And they’re the nicest people on earth. Cheese!”
He eventually went on to describe what many have called systemic Hollywood racism, which he described as a “sorority racist” culture.
“We want black actors to get the same opportunities as white actors,” Rock said. “That’s it.”
