The past several weeks leading up to the 88th Annual Academy Awards a.k.a. The Oscars were quite controversial to say the least. This year the lack of diversity in the nominations was a huge sticking point, thus resulting in a boycott of the show spearheaded by Jada Pinkett Smith and husband Will Smith who opted out of attending the event all together. In addition they also plead with host, Chris Rock as well as their peers of color not to support the biggest night in film as a show of solidarity. Despite their pleas, Rock did not forgo his hosting duties and took on the daunting task of addressing the elephant in the room with candor, grace, integrity and a healthy dose of comedic relief.
Cutting the fat off my monologue #oscars pic.twitter.com/ngMQD6LAkt
— Chris Rock (@chrisrock) February 29, 2016
In Rock’s opening monologue at the 2016 Oscars, the actor/comedian set the tone of the evening by coming out to Public Enemy’s “Fight the Power.”
During his 10 minute opening monologue he tackled the heavy issue of “racism in Hollywood” equating it to a sorority. He also touched on the hot button issue of sexism in Hollywood, getting into Rihanna’s panties and even threw a bit of shade Mrs. Smith’s way. However, the biggest message he emphasized to the audience and those tuning it at home, was that everybody should be afforded the same opportunity and that race should not exclude people from that.
Watch the full intro. Do you think Rock did a good job addressing the issue of diversity in Tinseltown?
