It was controversy, not Will Smith, that hit Chris Rock when he hosted the 2016 Oscars. During his opening monologue, the comedian spoke about Black Lives Matter and called out the award show for its lack of racial diversity. But Rock was slammed a short time later for using Asian stereotypes and joking about child labor — which, let’s face it, is about as funny as human trafficking.
“The results of tonight’s Academy Awards have been tabulated by the accounting firm of PricewaterhouseCoopers,” Rock announced (via USA Today). “They sent us their most dedicated, accurate, and hard-working representatives,” he continued before drawing on the typecast of Asians being exceptionally good at math. “So I want you to please welcome Ming Zhu, Bao Ling, and David Moscowitz,” Rock said as three Asian kids walked onstage, clad in suits and carrying the famous results briefcases.
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“Now, if anybody’s upset about that joke, just tweet about it on your phone that was also made by these kids,” Rock concluded, quickly making it onto the list of the most disastrous Oscars moments ever. Viewers followed his advice and took to Twitter in droves. NBC News reported that, among other complaints, Rock was accused of hypocrisy for discussing the lack of diversity and then joking about Asians, one of the most underrepresented races in the industry. Ironically, Pacific Islanders and Asian Americans are also often cast in stereotypical roles, Bloomberg learned from a study.
