Chris Rock hosts the Academy Awards this Sunday, a wonderful irony in a year that saw zero black nominees in both the four major acting categories and the directing category, and no Best Picture nominees featuring black characters.
For Rock, who became famous for scathing routines on race early in his career, this is a prime opportunity to roast Hollywood in a way only he can. Will Rock pull out all the stops — or will those running the awards curb him from hurting anyone’s feelings? We won’t know until Sunday’s show — but we can look back at some of his material for the topics and tone that we dearly hope he brings to this weekend’s Oscars ceremony.
Ingrained racism
On 1997’s “The Chris Rock Show,” the comic went to South Carolina to talk to people about their views on the state’s (then) policy of flying the Confederate flag. His sly digs at racism here would make a perfect model for a similar feature quizzing Oscar voters on their choices. (A scenario we know won’t happen, but we can dream.)
Double standards
In his 2004 special, “Chris Rock: Never Scared,” Rock talks about the racist double standard in his wealthy town of Alpine, NJ, where his three fellow black neighbors are superstars and the guy next door is a white . . . dentist. (Warning: contains expletives.)
Better luck next year?
In a radio interview in January, Rock schools one of his hosts on the difference between the Quentin Tarantino movie “Django Unchained” and the real-life story of slave revolt leader Nat Turner — who’s likely to be a subject we’ll be hearing more on this year, as “The Birth of a Nation,” about Turner and due out in October, is already creating Oscar buzz.
“Progress” can be a four-letter word
“White people have gotten less crazy,” Rock tells his interviewer in a 2009 clip, but points out that saying we’ve made “progress” on discrimination and segregation is like admitting that those things were once an acceptable status quo.
What black viewers want
At the 2005 Oscars, Rock went to LA’s Magic Johnson Theatre and interviewed moviegoers in the all-black — with the exception of Albert Brooks — audience, asking them what they’d seen and loved that year. Spoiler: It didn’t match up well with what Oscar’s largely white voters had nominated. In an even-more-white year at the awards, Rock is perfectly set up to do this bit again — with even more devastating results.
Here’s what you WON’T hear
Rock opened his 2005 hosting gig with a salutation he’ll definitely have to shelve this Sunday: “It’s a great night. We have four black nominees tonight.”