Posted by | Ray Cornelius
CONGRATS to award-winning comedian Chris Rock on landing his first ever ESSENCE Magazine cover. The outspoken actor is gearing up to host the Academy Awards on February 28 and claims that anything can happen.
“I’m going to do my best,” says Rock. “It could go horribly wrong. Don’t ever think that it can’t. That’s when it goes wrong—when you don’t think there’s any chance of it going wrong. If you know it won’t, it probably won’t.”
The Academy Awards of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences came under fire in January when no actors or actresses of color were nominated in leading or supporting roles for the second year in a row. Celebrities like Jada Pinkett-Smith, Will Smith and Spike Lee expressed their views and many asked for Rock to withdraw from hosting the show. However, he decided to stick it out but did have a few things to say about Hollywood’s unfair treatment towards Black actresses.
“I’ve never done a movie, any movie, the silliest movie, where someone, some studio person hasn’t gone, ‘Does the girl have to be Black?’ It happens every time,” he says. “Black women get paid less than everybody in Hollywood. Everybody’s talking about Jennifer Lawrence. Talk to Gabrielle Union. If you want to hear stories, talk to Nia Long. Talk to Kerry Washington. They would love to get to Jennifer Lawrence’s place, or just be treated with the same amount of respect.”
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Photo Credit: ESSENCE.com
