Laugh Factory founder: Chris Rock will rock the Oscars
Chris has been popping in at the Laugh Factory doing surprise spots to work on his monologue.
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The ability to be funny may or may not be a result of race or gender or national identity, but many African-Americans have succeeded within a largely European-American culture. And they have been honored because of their ability, not because of their background or genes.
Eddie Murphy, Richard Pryor, Whoopi Goldberg and others have each been honored with the Kennedy Center's Mark Twain award. A lot of the recipients of the Kennedy Center Honors have gone to African Americans. Eddie Murphy, Whoopi Goldberg (won), Jamie Foxx (won), Mo'nique (won) have been nominated for Academy Awards. None of these recipients received these honors because of the color of their skin. They received them because of their tremendous talents and achievements.
My sincere hope is that the recent brouhaha over the Oscar nominations do not make these artists feel devalued. What about next year's nominees and winners? If they are people of color, will they feel proud of their achievement or will they feel their accomplishments are merely a result of all this unnecessary controversy? There are plenty of issues that are related to race and these could have been the focus of everybody's attention. There is a homeless crisis, mass income inequality, random gun shootings and poisoned water in a major city. Minorities and the poor have been disproportionately affected by these burdens and yet for weeks, every news outlet only spoke of who wasn't -- not of who was -- nominated for acting roles.
Is something wrong here?
Why didn't Jada Pinkett Smith talk about how the 2008 banking crisis had a disparate effect on Black families? Why were Black people deluged with subprime loans that they couldn't repay? Were low-income people targeted for loans with balloon payments they couldn't repay, so that bankers received millions of dollars in fees before their foreclosure? Why were none of the financiers held accountable? Many of these themes were explored in one of the nominated films, "The Big Short," but Will Smith's spouse thought that his lack of recognition was the most important aspect of the issues affecting African Americans.
Every year for the past 35 years, the Laugh Factory opens its doors to the homeless and those away from home, for a Holiday meal and show on Thanksgiving and Christmas. We see people just getting by, hoping for a job or a place to sleep. Many haven't had a warm meal in a while. We have had many comics and entertainers of minority backgrounds -- Paul Mooney, Richard Pryor, Arsenio Hall, Dave Chappelle, Paul Rodriguez, Tiffany Haddish, Byron Allen, Mike Epps, Alonzo Bodden, the Wayans Brothers and Natalie Cole, among others -- join us year after year serving meals to the poor. We have never had the honor of having Will Smith or his wife join us, but I can assure you that most of the underprivileged and lonely people there would not consider it a crisis that a multimillionaire actor wasn't nominated for an award. People don't have a meal and Will Smith doesn't have a statue; which is more important? If race was so important to Jada Pinkett Smith, why did her husband not hire a Black director to direct him in "Ali" since he apparently had that choice? He didn't work with Spike Lee, he worked with Michael (white man) Mann.
We all remember Halle Berry crying when she won the Oscar and we recall Cuba Gooding jumping all over the stage when he won. It must have meant something to these performers to be acknowledged for their excellence by the people whose careers had been spent in the motion picture business. Unfortunately, the Academy's president, chose to apologize for the nominees by saying she was "heartbroken". Imagine how the nominees feel. Why didn't she point the finger at the head of the studios who are all white and obviously didn't green light enough quality films featuring people of color?
It is unfortunate that the focus became about a few people rather than about the bigger issues facing minorities in this country. Whatever concern there might be about minorities working in the motion picture business is a very different issue than who is performing with "excellence" in the motion picture industry. Chris Rock is an excellent comic who will use this issue and others in a way that enlightens us and makes us laugh. That is always the best medicine for the blues. Chris has been popping in at the Laugh Factory doing surprise spots to work on his monologue and I can guarantee you that Chris will rock the Oscars.
