Chris Rock makes fun of Oscars

[Guest Vitamin X]

Lighten up, folks.

 

That's the message today from Oscar producer Gil Cates over reports that some members of the Motion Picture Arts & Sciences were rankled by comments that this year's Academy Awards (news - web sites) emcee, Chris Rock, made poking fun at Hollywood's biggest night.

 

"Come on, it's a fashion show," the Bring the Pain comic says in the latest issue of Entertainment Weekly. "What straight black man sits there and watches the Oscars (news - web sites)? Show me one. And they don't recognize comedy, and you don't see a lot of black people nominated, so why should I watch it?"

 

Rock also disparaged the idea of giving out trophies in lower-profile technical categories. "Awards for art are f---ing idiotic," he says. (Rock has previously said that, if Jamie Foxx (news) doesn't win Best Actor for Ray, "I'll take an Oscar from one of the sound or light people that win and give it to him. Jamie Foxx is not going to walk out of that place without an Oscar.")

 

On Sunday, the Drudge Report ran an item headlined "Host Chris Rock Shock: Only Gays Watch Oscars" that anonymously quoted Academy members calling for Rock's ouster to not "tarnish the reputation of the Academy."[ed.: ]

 

By Monday, Cates was attempting to defuse the situation and defend his unconventional choice of Rock as Oscar host.

 

"The Academy is excited about Chris Rock hosting this year's Oscar telecast and looking forward to a very funny evening with him," Cates said in a statement. "Chris' comments over the past few weeks are meant to be humorous digs at a show that some people, obviously including Chris himself, think may be a bit too stuffy."

 

"The Academy has heard no grumbling from its members and has no intention of even suggesting that Chris step aside," Cates added.

 

The joke-slinger's rep, Matt Labov, declined to comment on the flap. But the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (news - web sites) rushed to Rock's defense, suggesting the Drudge item was trying to make something of nothing.

 

"Chris Rock isn't making fun of gays--he's poking fun at the Oscars," said GLAAD executive director Joan Garry. "It's shtick."

 

Of course, this wouldn't be the first time Rock has gotten into a Drudge match. In March 2003, the comedian blasted the Internet maven for an online report alleging studio bosses at DreamWorks pressured Rock to refrain from making any un-funny remarks against President Bush (news - web sites) and the War in Iraq (news - web sites) before his comedy Head of State hit theaters.

 

At the time, Rock said: "I don't know Matt Drudge, I never met Matt Drudge, but if I see Matt Drudge, I'm going to take my red-blooded American foot and put it up his un-American ass for trying to disrupt the opening of my movie."

 

Meanwhile, at an Oscar fashion event Tuesday, Cates was still finding himself sticking up for Rock. "When I was a kid--I'm from the Bronx--when I was a little boy I didn't watch the Oscars, not out of any sense of disrespect, but they just weren't part of my life. I can understand why, as a child Chris, wouldn't have watched it. It's kind of dopey to take [his remarks] out of context," he told E!

 

"At some point you've got to lighten up and take the fact that what he's saying is for the purpose of making us laugh."

 

Those latter remarks could be meant to address the humor-deficient oldster wing of the Academy. As noted in an editorial in Tuesday's Hollywood Reporter, "It isn't homophobia that's getting [Rock] into trouble but a lack of deference to the event. This is the same problem that got another guy who hangs out in New York, David Letterman, into trouble during his infamous stint at the Oscar helm. He was an outsider who failed to gauge the tolerance a Hollywood crowd would have for a guy poking harmless but pointed fun at their revered institution--and the crowd turned on him."

 

"The fact that Rock is the best thing that could happen to the way-too-full-of-its-bloated-sense-of-self-importance Academy Awards is undeniable," the Reporter continues.

 

"He's a pro. He knows how to behave himself...He won't be ruining your precious Oscars. But please don't ask him to be a Boy Scout, either. You can't hire a pit bull and expect a poodle to show up."

 

This is the first Oscar-hosting gig for Rock, who's taking over for the Academy's usual go-to guy, Billy Crystal (news). Crystal led last year's ceremony to its best ratings in four years with 43.5 million viewers. Cates & Co. hope the always edgy Rock will not only keep the show lively and viewership high, but also attract a younger demo to the telecast.

 

ABC will air the Academy Awards almost live (there's a seven-second delay in case Rock or someone else gets too crazy) from Hollywood's Kodak Theater on Feb. 27.

 

Discuss.

[bob_barron 0]

The Oscar people have said their not upset at all

[Guest El Satanico]

This will all end badly, and I'm going to be sure to tune in for this trainwreck.

 

I missed the infamous show Letterman hosted, so I have no ideal what the big deal was. I won't let that happen this time.

[razazteca 0]

I missed the infamous show Letterman hosted,

The one where Letterman did the "Uma this is Oprah" bit?

[teke184 0]

The Letterman show was just a leaden lump...

 

This one has the potential to be the verbal version of Janet Jackson's "Tittygate" at the Super Bowl because Rock will have a live mic all night and, AFAIK, there will be no 7-second delay.

 

 

Considering how meanspirited and political Rock's last big stand-up routine was, this has the potential to get ugly quick. I like Rock and think he can be a funny motherfucker, but politics and comedy don't mix too well if it's leaning too far to the left or right.

[teke184 0]

I missed the infamous show Letterman hosted,

The one where Letterman did the "Uma this is Oprah" bit?

Yeah, that was the show. Not a train wreck as much as dull and boring.

[razazteca 0]

Chris Rock was always entertaining on the MTV award shows......my favorite was when he attacked the Spice Girls.

[Guest sek69]

Drudge needs to go back to uncovering politicians getting blowjobs and stop trying to start fake moral outrages over stupid shit.

 

I love hearing morons like Hannity misquoting jokes from Rock's comedy act to make him sound homophobic too.

[Placebo Effect 0]

Drudge = Shit

 

The best thing about diehard Republicans is when they defend Druge by saying, "But he breaks big stories!" And then when you point out that one in thirty of his big stories actually pan out, they repeat the same thing.

 

They're also the same people who cried for Rather to be fired.

 

Not that I disagree with that, but it's funny how idiots defend him.

[strummer 0]

I actually liked Letterman as host in 95. He actually did something different and it was great IMO. I think the Academy wants someone to kiss everybody's ass like Billy Crystal or Whoopi Goldberg. I've never laughed at anything Whoopi Goldberg has ever done, NOT ONCE, yet she is somehow Hollywood "elite" Billy Crystal is funny when he's doing his real act, but modifies it for talk shows and the Oscars and comes off as a kiss ass.

[Guest El Satanico]

I'm sure he'll walk the line and be himself without going too far. However, I'm still hanging onto the possibility that he'll say "fuck it" and go balls out.

[Styles 0]

The Letterman show was just a leaden lump...

 

This one has the potential to be the verbal version of Janet Jackson's "Tittygate" at the Super Bowl because Rock will have a live mic all night and, AFAIK, there will be no 7-second delay.

 

 

Considering how meanspirited and political Rock's last big stand-up routine was, this has the potential to get ugly quick. I like Rock and think he can be a funny motherfucker, but politics and comedy don't mix too well if it's leaning too far to the left or right.

Actually the end of the article states there will be a 7 second delay in case Rock or someone else gets too edgy...

[Guest El Satanico]

Rock will have a live mic all night and there will be no 7-second delay.

Actually the end of the article states there will be a 7 second delay in case Rock or someone else gets too edgy...

damnit...there goes alot of the potential fun.

[teke184 0]

The Letterman show was just a leaden lump...

 

This one has the potential to be the verbal version of Janet Jackson's "Tittygate" at the Super Bowl because Rock will have a live mic all night and, AFAIK, there will be no 7-second delay.

 

 

Considering how meanspirited and political Rock's last big stand-up routine was, this has the potential to get ugly quick.  I like Rock and think he can be a funny motherfucker, but politics and comedy don't mix too well if it's leaning too far to the left or right.

Actually the end of the article states there will be a 7 second delay in case Rock or someone else gets too edgy...

My mistake on that part.

 

 

However, in many cases the 7-second delay is never used to actually remove anything because it takes longer than 7 seconds for the censors to figure out something should be bleeped.

 

The WWE on TNN appears to be one of the only exceptions, as the TNN censors successfully bleeped quite a few things in 2001 at the least.

[UZI Suicide 0]

I wouldn't be surpised if Rock goes all out and shits on everyone. It's not like he has some blossoming movie career to protect.

[Guest Vitamin X]

Hell it's not like people would hate him for it.

[Guest El Satanico]

Even if he goes all out and gets blacklisted, he could still have a good movie career.

 

As box office numbers prove, black folk will flock to movies starring at least one person they like.

 

 

 

 

a joke...you know joke...ha ha and shit

[Brush with Greatness 0]

Hell, when did they change the date of the Oscars? I always thought they used to be in late March/early April. Not the end of February for sure.

[teke184 0]

Hell, when did they change the date of the Oscars? I always thought they used to be in late March/early April. Not the end of February for sure.

According to IMDB, it changed last year when it went from late March to February 29.

 

By having it on February 27 this year, it will be the earliest in the year it's been held since the 1940s.

[SuperJerk 0]

I love hearing morons like Hannity misquoting jokes from Rock's comedy act to make him sound homophobic too.

If Hannity really wanted to quote someone saying soemthing homophobic, all he has to do is quote himself.

[Guest The Shadow Behind You]

Hell, when did they change the date of the Oscars? I always thought they used to be in late March/early April. Not the end of February for sure.

Mostly they did it to take advantage of Febuary Sweeps and it's closer to the globes so people are still excited about the whole thing. I perfer it late febuary as well because that 2 almost 3 month layoff makes too much time for talk and idle nothingness.

[Guest Mindless_Aggression]

I'm actually planning on watching the Oscar's for once based on Mr. Rock hosting. Him just destroying people on the MTV awards was good TV. "Good Charlotte huh? More like a mediocre Green Day" and him introducing one female presenter with "I got nothing, I want to have sex with her, thats it" have solidified him among my favorite comedians.

[bobobrazil1984 0]

Political commentators always come off sounding like complete un-hip dorks whenever they talk about something entertainment related, no matter what it is.

 

I dont get what the 'outrage' is, those lines sound like they were taken straight from a Chris Rock comedy monologue. Hell I can imagine his voice saying it. I'm looking forward to his hosting.

[NoCalMike 0]

Usually I only watch bits and pieces of the Oscars. Since i live on the west coast I can get results on the net before it airs here anyway.

 

This year I might be glued to the broadcast merely because C. Rock is hosting it.

 

I just laugh at Drudge thinking he even broke this story and that it matters anyway.

[NoCalMike 0]

Usually I only watch bits and pieces of the Oscars. Since i live on the west coast I can get results on the net before it airs here anyway.

 

This year I might be glued to the broadcast merely because C. Rock is hosting it.

 

I just laugh at Drudge thinking he even broke this story and that it matters anyway.

[cabbageboy 0]

I don't get this in a lot of ways. If Rock really feels this way, why host the show? I know the profit motive is always there but does he need the $$ that bad?

[Crimson Platypus 0]

I just hope that Jamie Foxx doesn't win so we can see Rock go ape-shit

[Guest Vitamin X]

You know, Leonardo DiCaprio made a very strong case for himself. Foxx was just uncanny in appearance and mimicking Ray, but so did DiCaprio, and his task was much more challenging it seemed, than Jamie Foxx's. I still expect to see Jamie Foxx win, but don't be surprised to see Leo win, either.

[Guest The Shadow Behind You]

I don't get this in a lot of ways. If Rock really feels this way, why host the show? I know the profit motive is always there but does he need the $$ that bad?

If anything it's the "What can I get away with" motive driving him here.

[2GOLD 0]

Maybe he'll be the first comedy performer who doesn't pussy out and actually takes a shot at the Oscar for their constant ignoring of comedy.

 

He sure as hell is saying it in the interviews and part of me wants Foxx to lose just to see if Rock comes on stage and snaps. Cause I'd like to know I won't be the only person beyond pissed.