Chris Rock Slams Jackie Robinson Biopic ’42’, Thought It Was ‘Bulls**t’

Chris Rock had one of the most critically successful films of 2014 with Top Five. Now, he’s addressing one movie he thought was off the mark. That film is the 2013 Jackie Robinson biopic 42.

The biopic starred Chadwick Boseman as Robinson, who was the first African American to sign with a baseball organization in 1945 when he played for the Brooklyn Dodgers. Rock wasn’t impressed by the film for the way it dealt with telling the story of African Americans in sports.

In a video with IGN, Rock didn’t mince words, which isn’t really surprising if you consider the place he has in discussing racial politics in America.

“People liked that movie. I thought it was a piece of sh*t.”

The stand-up comedian and actor went on to explain why he felt this way about the Jackie Robinson film.

“Just the whole ‘legend of Jackie Robinson’ bullsh*t. They try to make it seem like he got to play because he was so good — like he was the first black man that actually learned how to play baseball. Like all the black people before him were just licking the ball.”

Additionally Rock said that the film gave a lot of credit to Dodgers president Branch Rickey.

This is not the first time Rock discussed race in Hollywood. In fact, he penned a whole essay on it.

The blistering truthful essay came at just the right moment when America was already in turmoil thanks to the shootings in Ferguson and the death of Staten Island’s Eric Garner. In a moment where society was asking questions about equality, Rock penned a refreshingly honest essay about race, but geared it specifically with what’s wrong with Hollywood today.

“How many black men have you met working in Hollywood? They don’t really hire black men. A black man with bass in his voice and maybe a little hint of facial hair? Not going to happen. It is what it is. I’m a guy who’s accepted it all.”

He continued, “I really don’t think there’s any difference between what black audiences find funny and what white audiences find funny, but everyone likes to see themselves onscreen, so there are some instances where there’s a black audience laughing at something that a white audience wouldn’t laugh at because a black audience is really just happy to see itself. Things that would be problems in a world where there were a lot of black movies get overlooked.”

Do you think Chris Rock makes a valid point about the movie 42?

[Photo by Kevin Winter / Getty Images]