Chris Rock, who is currently making the press rounds for his film Top Five , isn’t backing away from the race conversation that’s currently going on. Rock’s comedy has always been heavily based on racial differences, and his own perspective in the world, but over the last few weeks, he’s been frank outside of his usual comedic tone.
Rock switched it up a bit by taking on a slightly more comedic tone while discussing the current state of our society. The comedian was on Late Night with David Letterman to promote his film Top Five , when Rock brought up that he would love to just be like Matt Damon and get scripts sent to him, but that doesn’t happen.
He then shared a quick joke with Letterman, referencing the shooting in Ferguson.
“I saw Sting backstage, threw my hands scared of The Police. Oh no! It’s The Police!”
Rock continued, asking the host if he knew that the WWE outlawed chokeholds , more than alluding to the controversy over the no indictment from Eric Garner’s case .
“So the WWE has better standards than the NYPD. You can’t just choke The Rock, Stone Cold Steve Austin. You can’t do that, Dave.”
This isn’t the first time Rock has discussed our current race issues. Penning what is now known as a “blistering” essay for the Hollywood Reporter , Rock said Hollywood is a white industry.
“Hannibal Buress called the other day. They want to know about agents and managers and the business; this kind of deal and that kind of deal; dealing with the media and dealing with family; money crap and where they should live. It’s big brother shit, and they ask because there aren’t that many black people to turn to. Who do you hire? Where’s the big black PR agency? Where are the big black agents? Where’s the big black film producer?”
Rock continued, “The person who runs the black division of a studio should probably have worked with black people at some point in their life. Clint Culpepper [a white studio chief who specializes in black movies] does a good job at Screen Gems because he’s the kind of guy who would actually go see ‘Best Man Holiday.’ But how many black men have you met working in Hollywood? They don’t really hire black men.”
Because of that, Rock has made a name for himself in the film industry as of late on his own dime. In terms of Top Five , a film that’s being hailed as the funniest film of the year, Rock acts as director, writer, and stars in the film.
