They Told Chris Rock 'No Jussie Smollett Jokes,' So He Walked on Stage and Demolished Him
This was “speaking truth to power.”
After the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People disgraced itself this year by nominating “Empire” actor Jussie Smollett for one of its coveted Image awards, it took a foul-mouthed comedian to put the whole matter into perspective.
And for Chris Rock, all it took was a lot of guts.
When Rock took the stage at Saturday night’s 50th NAACP Image Awards in Hollywood’s Dolby Theatre, he made it crystal clear that he was operating under specific orders.
“They said, ‘no Jussie Smollett jokes,’” Rock told his audience.
And he made it just as clear that he wasn’t going to go along, with a series of jabs at Smollett capped by one question: “What the hell was he thinking?”
Check it out here (warning: some rough language):
Chris Rock: Jussie Smollett, You Don’t Get No Respect From Me #ImageAwards50 pic.twitter.com/97vpDkLltQ
— TV One (@tvonetv) March 31, 2019
As odd as the whole Smollett case is, with an apparently completely manufactured “hate crime,” an apparently corrupt prosecuting office, and a legal “resolution” that actually resolved nothing, Rock’s open mockery of Smollett was just what the moment called for.
“What a waste of light skin,” Rock said, before presenting the Image Award for outstanding comedy series to the cast of “Blackish.” “You know what I could do with that light skin? That curly hair? My career would be out of here. F**king running Hollywood!…
“From now on, you’re ‘Jessie’ from now on. You don’t even get the ‘U’ no more. That ‘U’ was respect. You don’t get no respect from me.”
The crowd ate it up, but not everyone was laughing.
According to Vanity Fair, “Blackish” star Yara Shahidi was taking a different position moments after Rock announced her show had won.
“I stand with Jussie,” she said on stage, before handing off the microphone.
That’s likely to be a mild version of the backlash Rock is likely to receive, judging by some of the social media responses to his schtick.
While there were plenty of Twitter users who enjoyed Rock’s jokes, there were a few who bashed him for having the courage to call out the one issue the Image Awards organizers weren’t keen to air in public:
It was a disappoint it was disrespectful how dare he!
— Jaynie Stierle (@jaynie_stierle) March 31, 2019
White folks loved this joke. 😑
— Kimberly Nicole (@Karamelioness) March 31, 2019
How do we revoke @ChrisRock black card??? Allowed others to say the N word and you don’t stop it, now jokes about @JussieSmollett. Trying to get your dead career started off of a whole race’s hurt & suffering is ridiculous. Getthehelloutofhere with your lame ass!
— Lisa S (@GTprincesss) March 31, 2019
Rock has been in sticky racial situations before.
When he hosted the Oscars in 2016, amid another annual controversy over whether the movie awards were too white, Rock took shots at both sides. He mocked how dominated the industry is by Caucasians but also made fun of the whole Oscar protest movement itself.
The classical civil rights movement didn’t concern itself with the Oscars because “we had real things to protest,” Rock said, according to NBC News.
“We were too busy being raped and lynched to care about who won best cinematographer,” he said.
That didn’t go over well with the grievance industry that makes up so much of Hollywood stars and liberal politics today.
And Rock’s jokes about Smollett aren’t likely to go over well with the liberal elite — including many who claim to be “civil rights leaders.”
Basically, Rock walked onto that Hollywood stage on Saturday night — in front of a crowd specifically selected for its ability to march in lockstep with the politically correct beat of the era — and did the job comedians have done since court jesters were cracking up the crowds in European castles.
He said what everyone else was thinking but was too scared to say.
“Speaking truth to power” has long been a line hijacked by civil rights groups pretending they’re still being martyred for their beliefs – Anita Hill even used it, ludicrously, for the name of her book about the Clarence Thomas Supreme Court hearings (one of the most disgraceful displays of leftist bigotry the country has ever witnessed).
“Power” is a relative thing, of course, but if anyone thinks that an audience gathered in Hollywood to honor the NAACP doesn’t wield a vast amount of power in the entertainment world, they’re kidding themselves.
“What the hell was he thinking?” Rock asked about Smollett.
And a lot of liberals are probably thinking that about Rock today.
He must have been thinking it was time to speak truth to power.
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