Last year’s telecast, hosted by Neil Patrick Harris, was down 15% from the 2014 affair, at 36.6 million total viewers.
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“If you want black people every year at the Oscars, just have black categories like Best Black Friend”. “It’s not enough to just listen and agree”. Let us not take this planet for granted. Rock asked one African-American theatergoer if it made him “smack-a-white-man mad”.
“How come it’s only unemployed people who tell you you should quit something?”
If an actor has already established a career, as DiCaprio has, argues Frank Pallotta of CNN, an Oscar win isn’t necessary. But we had better things to protest. Or as he put it, “one of those years that Sidney didn’t put out a movie”.
That’s right. Is Hollywood racist?
It’s like, ‘We like you Rhonda, but you’re not a Kappa’. We want black actors to get the same opportunities as white actors.
After the Oscars are handed out, all the stars head over to the Governors Ball to get their statues engraved with the relevant information (“Dreamz do come tru – Leo”). “All you guys get great parts all the time”.
And so it continued as Rock, who admitted he had completely re-written his monologue in the wake of the diversity controversy, performed a autopsy on the elephant in the room.
The routine was followed with a video bit in which black actors took roles in films that had been nominated for Oscars, including Whoopi Goldberg in “Joy” and Rock in “The Martian”, as well as a weird appearance by actress Stacey Dash, who had called for the elimination of Black History Month. It was a subtle plea from the film community that the movies and artists honored at Sunday night’s ceremony did have objective and meaning – even in this second year of #OscarsSoWhite. Jada’s gonna boycott the Oscars? Gonzalez Inarritu won last year for “Birdman” and won again this year for “The Revenant”.
Meanwhile, Whoopi Goldberg kept up the race discussion in a skit imagining more black actors on screen. He said the problem would one day be solved.
The sense of urgency Rock brought to his hosting duties seemed to energize (though, sadly, not shorten) the entire evening.
Host Chis Rock didn’t hold back when he kicked off last night’s ceremony, taking advantage of his intro time to poke fun at the Oscars’ lack of diversity.
All 20 actors nominated Sunday were white. This year, he’s crying at Eazy-E’s funeral (in Straight Outta Compton). Spotlight, a well-reviewed but lightly viewed feature, won Best Picture, ahead of favorite The Revenant.
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Ben Affleck, Chris Rock, Rebel Wilson and Puff Diddy were among the famous faces seen chatting to the triumphant actor, who happily posed for photos.
