Chris Rock Rewriting Oscars Monologue Amid Diversity Controversy

by Chelsea ReganJanuary 25, 2016, 3:36 pmNews, News Feed >

Chris Rock has scrapped the monologue for the Oscars that he was planning to deliver, and is hard at work at a new one amid the controversy about the diversity in the nominees and in the Academy.

Chris Rock Oscars Monologue

Oscars producer Reginald Hudlin revealed Sunday that Rock was going back to the drawing board for his monologue.

“Chris is hard at work. He and his writing staff locked themselves in a room. As things got a little provocative and exciting, he said, ‘I’m throwing out the show I wrote and writing a new show,'” Hudlin told Entertainment Tonight. “Chris is that thorough. He’s that brilliant, and I have 1000 percent confidence that he will deliver something that people will be talking about for weeks.”

Hudlin added that he knew that Rock was making a point to tackle the Academy’s diversity issue – and that Academy memebers were expecting it and OK with it.

“You should expect [Oscars diversity jokes],” Hudlin said. “And, yes, the Academy is ready for him to do that. They’re excited about him doing that. They know that’s what we need. They know that’s what the public wants, and we deliver what the people want.”

With the controversy, and Rock’s unique position as the host of the Oscars ceremony, his monologue is one of the most anticipated aspects of the show. Crash star Don Cheadle, for one, doesn’t think that anyone could be better suited to tackle the monologue this year than Rock.

“I mean, there is no one better poised, in my opinion, or equipped to go in on this s***,” Cheadle told People magazine. “And I hope when he does, he skewers everybody — the people who are complaining about it, the people who were passed up, the people that weren’t passed up, the whole idea of being passed up for this award and what it means, racism, the lack of diversity, all of it.”

After the Oscar nominations were announced earlier this month, many were quick to notice the dearth of African Americans nominated despite the quality of projects and caliber of talent. The lack of diversity has led people like Will Smith and Spike Lee to boycott the Oscars entirely in the hopes of effecting change.

Rock tweeted his initial reaction to the nominees on Twitter, writing, The #Oscars. The White BET Awards.”