'Top Five' Star Chris Rock Attacks Hollywood's Race Problem, Says Los Angeles Expects Mexicans to 'Take Care of White People'
Shortly after his interview with Frank Rich for New York magazine's Vulture went viral, stand-up comedian Chris Rock made headlines when he addressed unrest in Ferguson, the Cosby controversy and 'Racial Progress.' Promoting "Top Five," his third effort as a director, Rock talked about being black in the entertainment industry and the "slave state" of Mexicans. The editorial will go down in the books as Rock's most controversial to date, if not his more candid.
In the interview, Rock mentioned getting his "big break" in Hollywood doing a bit part in "Beverly Hills Cop II" after Eddie Murphy offered him a part as a kind gesture.
"I was like the kid in 'A Bronx Tale,'" Rock said. "I got to just hang around when the biggest parts of show business were happening.
Rock shared his memories from his couple of weeks on set,
"... I remember every day Jeffrey Katzenberg would call Eddie Murphy -- I don't even know if Eddie was calling him back -- but it was like, 'Jeffrey Katzenberg called again.' 'Janet Jackson just called.' 'Michael Jackson called.' It was that crazy," Rock continued. "I've still never seen anything like it. I had a small part in the movie, but my dream was bigger than that. I wanted to have a convertible Rolls-Royce with a fine girl driving down Melrose blasting Prince."
Rock said while his success never achieved the level of fame Murphy had, he has done well for himself.
He's right: He's a household name that Comedy Central voted fifth in its list of greatest stand-up comedians of all time.
Rock's may not have come to be without the help of other successful black comedians at the time who broke through to the mainstream.
"Eddie didn't have to put me in 'Beverly Hills Cop II,'" Rock explained. "Keenen Wayans didn't have to put me in 'I'm Gonna Git You Sucka.' Arsenio didn't have to let me on his show. I'd do the same for a young white guy, but here's the difference: Someone's going to help the white guy. Multiple people will. The people whom I've tried to help, I'm not sure anybody was going to help them."
Rock noted that like Murphy, he has passed the baton on to younger comics who are making an impact on the comedy world.
"I still remember people thinking I was crazy for hiring Wanda Sykes on my old HBO show. I recommended J.B. Smoove for 'Saturday Night Live,' and I just helped Leslie Jones get on that show," Rock said.
According to Rock, Jones is "as funny as a human being could be," but because she isn't familiar with Second City, stand-up at The Cellar and Judd Apatow, it was hard for her to get her break.
"... How the hell was she ever going to get through unless somebody like me says to Lorne Michaels, 'Hey, look at this person?'" Rock said. "... I saw her at a comedy club four or five years ago, and I wrote her name down in my phone. I probably called four managers -- the biggest managers in comedy -- to manage her, and all of them said no. They didn't get it. They didn't get it until Lorne said yes a few years later, and then it was too late."
Looking at the rating system and the Hollywood business, the comic noted the infinitesimal percentage of films with African-American leads are "judged more harshly" than other films with a predominately white cast. Moreover, black actors are still typecast and aren't called in for bigger roles.
"Now, when it comes to casting, Hollywood pretty much decides to cast a black guy or they don't. We're never on the 'short list.' We're never 'in the mix.' When there's a hot part in town and the guys are reading for it, that's just what happens," Rock said. "It was never like, 'Is it going to be Ryan Gosling or Chiwetel Ejiofor for 'Fifty Shades of Grey?'"
Rock said that problem similarly effects his fellow comedians.
"Kevin Hart is the biggest comedian in the world," he said. "If Kevin Hart is playing 40,000 seats in a night and Jon Stewart is playing 3,000, the fact that Jon Stewart's 3,000 are white means Kevin has to cross over? ... That makes no sense. If anybody needs to cross over, it's the guy who's selling 3,000 seats."
However, Rock understands that while the fight for better representation in film, television or stage still continues, other communities of color are undeserved.
"But forget whether Hollywood is black enough. A better question is, Is Hollywood Mexican enough?" Rock said.
Looking at the immigration bill that is currently making its way through Congress, Rock noted the limited visibility of Mexicans in Hollywood and their impact on Los Angeles' film industry.
"You're in LA, you've got to try not to hire Mexicans. It's the most liberal town in the world, and there's a part of it that's kind of racist -- not racist like 'F- you, nigger' racist, but just an acceptance that there's a slave state in LA," Rock said. "There's this acceptance that Mexicans are going to take care of white people in LA that doesn't exist anywhere else."
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