Chris Rock turns Oscars into biting racism commentary

By Steve Gorman LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Comedian Chris Rock began his return as Oscars host on Sunday by immediately and blatantly addressing the most racially charged topic – the furor over the all-white performers nominated for Hollywood’s highest award. In an opening monologue peppered with caustic comments about what he saw as widespread “sorority”-style discrimination in the film industry, Rock set the stage for an evening of running gags that repeatedly returned to racial themes, transforming a glitzy awards ceremony long known for its self-adoring pomp into a three-and-a-half-hour live broadcast on ABC, punctuated by biting satire about issues of inclusion and diversity raised by the social media campaign using the hashtag #OscarsSoWhite and the Black Lives Matter movement. But race was just one element that ensured that the 88th Academy Awards would likely go down as one of the most socially critical shows in Academy Awards history. Messages ranged from a special appearance by Vice President Joe Biden calling for a stand against sexual violence on college campuses to an impassioned plea from Best Actor Oscar winner Leonardo DiCaprio to care for the planet. The difference in tone was clear from the start. Rock strode onto the stage in a white tuxedo and bow tie and welcomed the audience to a show “also known as the People’s Choice Awards for white people,” adding, “You realize that if they nominated presenters, I wouldn’t even get this job.” From that moment on, it was clear that Rock was not going to mince his words and that his blunt message could help the film academy get a handle on its diversity problem. Wondering with mock amusement why black people in the ’50s or ’60s didn’t protest the lack of diversity at the Oscars like they did this year, he answered his own question: “Because we had real reasons to protest back then. We were too busy getting raped and lynched to care who won best cinematographer.” “FIGHT THE POWER” Rock didn’t limit his barbs to Hollywood. He got one of his biggest laughs when he joked that the Oscars’ annual “In Memoriam” montage to deceased movie stars should instead be dedicated to “black people who were shot by police on the way to the theater.” That motif extended beyond Rock’s monologue into the comedic moments between awards presentations throughout the evening. In a pre-taped parody of a scene from “The Martian,” the Oscar-nominated sci-fi drama about an astronaut stranded on the Red Planet, Rock was substituted for the film’s stranded star, Matt Damon, while NASA officials debated whether it was worth the cost of bringing a black astronaut back to Earth. In another parody, Rock ventured into the predominantly black Los Angeles suburb of Compton in a tuxedo to ask several African-American moviegoers outside a theater if they had seen the various films nominated for best picture this year. None had. All, however, said they had seen the critically acclaimed hip-hop drama “Straight Outta Compton,” whose failure to earn a spot in competition for best picture helped fuel the #OscarsSoWhite uproar. One of Rock’s sharpest comments on the subject was not a joke at all, but a clear summary of the problem: “We want opportunities. We want the black actors to have the same opportunities as the white actors. That’s all.” In a more lighthearted comic moment, Rock, 51, invited members of his daughters’ Girl Scout troop to the Dolby Theater mid-show to sell boxes of cookies to the seated stars. They ended up selling over $65,000 worth of cookies. Rock was named host of the 88th Academy Awards in October, months before the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced its nominations list, which for the second year in a row did not include a single person of color in any of the acting categories. In the backlash that followed, he was widely seen as a prescient choice to defuse tensions looming over the awards show after he appeared as Oscar presenter just once, in 2005, when he received mixed reviews for a performance many at the time felt was too provocative. Rock capped off Sunday’s show with the statement “Black lives matter” before the credits rolled to the signature song “Fight the Power” by rap group Public Enemy. (Edited by Mary Milliken)