Well, it’s a good thing that Chris Rock has circled back to exploring his dramatic acting chops (long after 1991’s New Jack City and sort-of following 2014’s Top Five) with the fourth season of Fargo as the head of a crime family. That’s because Rock negatively assessed comedy’s current state on Monday night while presenting an award at the New York Film Critics Circle Awards dinner. Variety reports how the former SNL star took the podium to present the Best First Film award to Eighth Grade director Bo Bunham. The moment turned into a mini stand-up routine with Rock joking, “If it was five years ago, I could say something really offensive and funny right now, but I can’t do that anymore, so … heyyyy!” Even more relevant to the current awards season at hand, Rock also let the Academy know they shouldn’t call him for the Oscar hosting gig:
“Steve Martin is here. You should host the Oscars. You’re the best. Steve Martin should host the Oscars! Because I’m not doing it, goddammit! You’re not getting me.”
Of course, Rock has already hosted the Oscars on two prior occasions, in 2005 and 2016. His last stab at the gig took place right before social media became backlash central for many public figures, including now-former Guardians of the Galaxy 3 director James Gunn and, most recently, Kevin Hart, who was scheduled to host the 2019 Oscars but backed out after the resurfacing of his past homophobic tweets. Hart continues to apologize and, if Ellen DeGeneres has anything to do with it, could be back in the saddle, since the Academy still has no idea who the host will be for the February 24 ceremony.
Maybe they’ll even go host-less at this point, who knows? However, the most enthusiastic Madagascar voice actor felt the need to publicly tell everyone he’s not interested. The really funny thing is that Rock didn’t seem to want the job in 2016 either, and he’s even less interested now. So don’t call him, Oscar voters! Hit these qualified ladies up instead.
(Via Variety)
