(CNN) — Everyone knew that Oscars host Chris Rock, after six weeks of silence on the issue, was going to address the #OscarsSoWhite controversy during his monologue Sunday night.
But viewers may not have been prepared for Rock’s double-barreled assault on racism in Hollywood. He explored it head-on, not just in his opening speech but in comments and recorded segments throughout the show.
“Everyone wants to know: Is Hollywood racist? Is it burning-cross racist? No. It’s a different kind of racist,” Rock said Sunday.
“You’re damn right Hollywood’s racist, but not the racist that you’ve grown accustomed to. Hollywood is sorority racist. It’s like, ‘We like you, Rhonda, but you’re not a Kappa.’ That’s how Hollywood is.
“But things are changing,” he added, building up to a joke. “We got a black ‘Rocky’ this year. Some people call it ‘Creed.’ I call it ‘Black Rocky.’
Rock had been widely expected to speak up on the well-documented lack of ethnic and gender diversity in Hollywood after no minorities were nominated in any of the four acting categories for the second consecutive year. The exclusion caused an uproar and led several prominent black celebrities, including actress Jada Pinkett Smith and filmmaker Spike Lee, to skip the show.
Rock said that he himself was urged by some to step down as host in protest.
“I thought about quitting. I thought about it real hard. But they’re not going to cancel the Oscars because I quit. And the last thing I need is to lose another job to Kevin Hart.”
Rock’s monologue alternated between jokes and more serious statements echoing those of black leaders who have called for the movie industry to be more inclusive in hiring and casting minorities.
“It’s not about boycotting. We want opportunities,” Rock said. “We want black actors to get the same opportunities as white actors — that’s it. Not just once.”
Some of Rock’s more pointed jokes drew gasps or stunned silence from the Dolby Theatre audience.
“This is the 88th Academy Awards. So this whole ‘no black nominees’ thing has happened at least 71 other times.” Rock said black Americans didn’t made a fuss about it back then because they had more important things to worry about. “We were too busy being raped and lynched to care about who won best cinematographer.”
Rock pushed things even further when he joked that the Oscars telecast would be a little different this year.
“In the In Memoriam package, it’s just going to be black people who were shot by the cops on the way to the movies,” he said, to gasps and groans from the audience.
The #OscarsSoWhite protests arose after nominations were announced in January and critically acclaimed black Oscar hopefuls such as “Beasts of No Nation’s” Idris Elba, “Concussion” star Will Smith, “Creed” star Michael B. Jordan and the cast of N.W.A biopic “Straight Outta Compton” all were ignored.
The ceremony’s producers kept hammering the diversity issue throughout the telecast.
After several awards were presented, Rock introduced a surprise guest: “Clueless” actress and Fox News commentator Stacey Dash, who walked onstage to say, “Happy Black History Month.” Dash had made headlines, and raised eyebrows, last month when she said Black History Month should be abolished because it promotes racial segregation.
On Twitter, many celebrities — including one past Oscars host — raved about Rock’s monologue. “That was really incredible @chrisrock #Oscars,” said Ellen DeGeneres, who hosted the 2013 show.
Although Rock had remained quiet on the #OscarsSoWhite furor in the weeks leading up to the show, Oscars producer Reginald Hudlin said last month that the host was rewriting his opening monologue to call out the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, which votes on the Oscars.
The academy clearly aimed for diversity in its choice of presenters and performers, about one-third of whom were people of color.
At least one Oscar presenter addressed the controversy Sunday before the ceremony even started. Actor-comedian Hart joked on Twitter that academy voters are “Straight Out of Touch.”
