Host Chris Rock wasted no time in taking on #OscarsSoWhite at the 88th Academy Awards on Sunday night.
After the obligatory montage of the year’s movies, Rock came out and said he’d counted at least 15 black people in the video — and, just like that, he was off.
“If they nominated hosts, I wouldn’t even get this job,” he said. “You’d be watching Neil Patrick Harris right now.”
Noting the lack of black nominees through most of Oscar history, he pointed out that in the ’60s, “Black people did not protest because we had real things to protest at the time. We were too busy being raped and lynched to worry about best cinematography.”
And “In Memoriam,” the yearly film of people who had passed away in the previous year, would get an addition, Rock said.
“In the In Memoriam package, it’s just going to be black people shot by the cops on the way to the movies.”
Common: ‘I know we’re going to make this change’
In the wake of #OscarsSoWhite, in which — for the second straight year — not a single acting nominee was a person of color, Motion Picture Academy President Cheryl Boone Isaacs said she expected Rock to make a splash.
“We want him to (go there), obviously, because way before this, our selection of Chris was to bring some edge and some fun and some funny — intelligent funny — to the telecast,” she told The Hollywood Reporter. “So we know he’s going to do that.”
Lou Gossett Jr., an Oscar winner for “An Officer and a Gentleman,” said on the red carpet that often Hollywood is ahead of society, but in the case of diversity, “society is ahead of us.”
Common, who won an Oscar last year for his song “Glory,” said the film community is aware there’s a problem, but now it’s time “to work toward a solution.”
“I know we’re going to make this change,” he said on the red carpet.
Some celebrities were attending an event in Flint, Michigan, #JusticeForFlint. The concert was organized by directors Ava DuVernay (“Selma”) and Ryan Coogler (“Creed”) and is calling attention to the water crisis in the Michigan city.
‘Revenant’ considered front-runner
Rock’s hosting is only one of the big stories going into Sunday’s show.
“The Revenant” leads all films with 12 nominations and is considered the front-runner for best picture.
Leonardo DiCaprio, who’s 0-fer as an acting nominee, is expected to finally take home a trophy for his performance in that film, in which he played an 1820s trapper, Hugh Glass. But the film, directed by last year’s Oscar-winning director, Alejandro González Iñárritu, may fall short of best picture to other favorites, including “Spotlight” and “The Big Short.”
And Sylvester Stallone may finally win an Oscar for playing Rocky Balboa — 39 years after he first did the role.
DiCaprio told ABC that he’s nervous about his chances but proud of the film.
“I feel blessed to be able to do movies like this,” he said. “Here I am, representing a movie I feel so particularly proud of.”
The first awards of the evening went to “Spotlight” for original screenplay and “The Big Short” for adapted screenplay.
The 88th Academy Awards are airing from Hollywood’s Dolby Theatre.