--- description: Watch Chris Rock deliver his opening monologue at the 88th Academy Awards on Feb. 28, 2016. title: Watch Chris Rock's Oscar Monologue: 'Damn Right, Hollywood's Racist' image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltbc385f5d1b24d8e0/69887f80a988ca11606b6c81/chris-rock-oscars-2016.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [Entertainment](/section/entertainment/) ## Entertainment Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [awards](/tag/awards/) ## awards Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Watch Chris Rock's Oscar Monologue: 'Damn Right, Hollywood's Racist'  by [Eliza Berman](/author/eliza-berman/)  ## Eliza Berman Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Berman is a senior editor at TIME. Feb 29, 2016 2:05 AM CUT  Chris Rock speaks at the Oscars on Feb. 28, 2016 in Hollywood, Calif. Chris Rock speaks at the Oscars on Feb. 28, 2016 in Hollywood, Calif.Chris Pizzello—AP  by [Eliza Berman](/author/eliza-berman/)  ## Eliza Berman Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Berman is a senior editor at TIME. Feb 29, 2016 2:05 AM CUT Since an [all-white](http://time.com/4180433/oscar-nominations-white-diversity-oscarssowhite/ "undefined") spate of acting nominees was announced in January, many have been anticipating not whether, but _how_ host [Chris Rock](http://time.com/4235456/oscars-2016-chris-rock-host/ "undefined") would address the issues of diversity and inclusion in his opening Oscar monologue. As expected, Rock did not shy away from the topic. “Is Hollywood racist?” he asked rhetorically. His answer: “Damn right, Hollywood’s racist.” Rock said that the kind of racism he has encountered in Hollywood isn’t the “burning cross” kind, but a more insidious beast he referred to as “sorority racist.” He also explained why he decided to host despite calls for him to boycott the show, saying that they were going to hold the event whether he attended or not, and “the last thing I need is to lose another job to Kevin Hart.” ### Oscars 2016: Celebrities on the Red Carpet  Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet attend the 88th Annual Academy Awards on Feb. 28, 2016 in Hollywood, Calif. Steve Granitz—Getty Images  Cate Blanchett attends the 88th Annual Academy Awards on Feb. 28, 2016 in Hollywood, Calif. Valerie Macon—Getty Images  Lady Gaga attends the 88th Annual Academy Awards on Feb. 28, 2016 in Hollywood, Calif. Jeff Kravitz—Getty Images  Alicia Vikander attends the 88th Annual Academy Awards on Feb. 28, 2016 in Hollywood, Calif. Todd Williamson—Getty Images  Brie Larson attends the 88th Annual Academy Awards on Feb. 28, 2016 in Hollywood, Calif. Jason Merritt—Getty Images  Olivia Wilde and Jason Sudeikis attend the 88th Annual Academy Awards on Feb. 28, 2016 in Hollywood, Calif. Jason Merritt—Getty Images  Sylvester Stallone and Jennifer Flavin attend the 88th Annual Academy Awards on Feb. 28, 2016 in Hollywood, Calif. Todd Williamson—Getty Images  Rooney Mara attends the 88th Annual Academy Awards on Feb. 28, 2016 in Hollywood, Calif. Todd Williamson—Getty Images  Matt Damon and Luciana Barroso attend the 88th Annual Academy Awards on Feb. 28, 2016 in Hollywood, Calif. Jeff Kravitz—Getty Images  Saoirse Ronan attends the 88th Annual Academy Awards on Feb. 28, 2016 in Hollywood, Calif. Jason Merritt—Getty Images  Chrissy Teigen and John Legend attend the 88th Annual Academy Awards on Feb. 28, 2016 in Hollywood, Calif. Todd Williamson—Getty Images  Rachel McAdams attends the 88th Annual Academy Awards on Feb. 28, 2016 in Hollywood, Calif. Jason Merritt—Getty Images  Michael Keaton attends the 88th Annual Academy Awards on Feb. 28, 2016 in Hollywood, Calif. Jeff Kravitz—Getty Images  Bryan Cranston and Robin Dearden attend the 88th Annual Academy Awards on Feb. 28, 2016 in Hollywood, Calif. Todd Williamson—Getty Images  Jennifer Garner attends the 88th Annual Academy Awards on Feb. 28, 2016 in Hollywood, Calif. Todd Williamson—Getty Images  Eniko Parrish and Kevin Hart attend the 88th Annual Academy Awards on Feb. 28, 2016 in Hollywood, Calif. Jason Merritt—Getty Images  Margot Robbie attends the 88th Annual Academy Awards on Feb. 28, 2016 in Hollywood, Calif. Todd Williamson—Getty Images  Sacha Baron Cohen and Isla Fisher attend the 88th Annual Academy Awards on Feb. 28, 2016 in Hollywood, Calif. Jason Merritt—Getty Images  Mindy Kaling attends the 88th Annual Academy Awards on Feb. 28, 2016 in Hollywood, Calif. George Pimentel—Getty Images  Michael Fassbender attends the 88th Annual Academy Awards on Feb. 28, 2016 in Hollywood, Calif. Valerie Macon—Getty Images  Hannah Redmayne and Eddie Redmayne attend the 88th Annual Academy Awards on Feb. 28, 2016 in Hollywood, Calif. Steve Granitz—Getty Images  Abraham Attah attends the 88th Annual Academy Awards on Feb. 28, 2016 in Hollywood, Calif. Steve Granitz—Getty Images  Jordyn Blum and Dave Grohl attend the 88th Annual Academy Awards on Feb. 28, 2016 in Hollywood, Calif. Jeff Kravitz—Getty Images  Jared Leto attends the 88th Annual Academy Awards on Feb. 28, 2016 in Hollywood, Calif. Jason Merritt—Getty Images  Jennifer Jason Leigh attends the 88th Annual Academy Awards on Feb. 28, 2016 in Hollywood, Calif. Steve Granitz—Getty Images  Sophie Turner attends the 88th Annual Academy Awards on Feb. 28, 2016 in Hollywood, Calif. Steve Granitz—Getty Images  Jimmy Napes and Sam Smith attend the 88th Annual Academy Awards on Feb. 28, 2016 in Hollywood, Calif. Todd Williamson—Getty Images  Priyanka Chopra attends the 88th Annual Academy Awards on Feb. 28, 2016 in Hollywood, Calif. Kevin Mazur—Getty Images  Charlotte Riley and Tom Hardy attend the 88th Annual Academy Awards on Feb. 28, 2016 in Hollywood, Calif. George Pimentel—Getty Images  Sofia Vergara attends the 88th Annual Academy Awards on Feb. 28, 2016 in Hollywood, Calif. Steve Granitz—Getty Images  Charlotte Rampling attends the 88th Annual Academy Awards on Feb. 28, 2016 in Hollywood, Calif. Steve Granitz—Getty Images  Charlize Theron attends the 88th Annual Academy Awards on Feb. 28, 2016 in Hollywood, Calif. Lester Cohen—Getty Images  Juliet Rylance attends the 88th Annual Academy Awards on Feb. 28, 2016 in Hollywood, Calif. Ethan Miller—Getty Images  Benicio Del Toro attends the 88th Annual Academy Awards on Feb. 28, 2016 in Hollywood, Calif. Steve Granitz—Getty Images  Daisy Ridley attends the 88th Annual Academy Awards on Feb. 28, 2016 in Hollywood, Calif. Jeff Kravitz—Getty Images  Naomi Watts and Liev Schreiber attend the 88th Annual Academy Awards on Feb. 28, 2016 in Hollywood, Calif. Valerie Macon—Getty Images  Jacob Tremblay attends the 88th Annual Academy Awards on Feb. 28, 2016 in Hollywood, Calif. Steve Granitz—Getty Images  Whoopi Goldberg attends the 88th Annual Academy Awards on Feb. 28, 2016 in Hollywood, Calif. Jason Merritt—Getty Images  Dorith Mous attends the 88th Annual Academy Awards on Feb. 28, 2016 in Hollywood, Calif. George Pimentel—Getty Images  Tina Fey attends the 88th Annual Academy Awards on Feb. 28, 2016 in Hollywood, Calif. Todd Williamson—Getty Images  Kerry Washington attends the 88th Annual Academy Awards on Feb. 28, 2016 in Hollywood, Calif. Jason Merritt—Getty Images  The Weeknd attends the 88th Annual Academy Awards on Feb. 28, 2016 in Hollywood, Calif. Todd Williamson—Getty Images  Alejandro Iñárritu and Maria Eladia Hagerman attend the 88th Annual Academy Awards on Feb. 28, 2016 in Hollywood, Calif. Todd Williamson—Getty Images  Olivia Munn attends the 88th Annual Academy Awards on Feb. 28, 2016 in Hollywood, Calif. Valerie Macon—Getty Images  Christian Bale and Sibi Blazic attend the 88th Annual Academy Awards on Feb. 28, 2016 in Hollywood, Calif. Steve Granitz—Getty Images  Sarah Silverman attends the 88th Annual Academy Awards on Feb. 28, 2016 in Hollywood, Calif. Jeff Kravitz—Getty Images  Kate Capshaw and Steven Spielberg attend the 88th Annual Academy Awards on Feb. 28, 2016 in Hollywood, Calif. Jeff Kravitz—Getty Images  Amy Poehler attends the 88th Annual Academy Awards on Feb. 28, 2016 in Hollywood, Calif. Jeff Kravitz—Getty Images  Heidi Klum attends the 88th Annual Academy Awards on Feb. 28, 2016 in Hollywood, Calif. Kevin Mazur—Getty Images  Nancy Carell and Steve Carell attend the 88th Annual Academy Awards on Feb. 28, 2016 in Hollywood, Calif. Ethan Miller—Getty Images  Pharrell Williams and Helen Lasichanh attend the 88th Annual Academy Awards on Feb. 28, 2016 in Hollywood, Calif. Kevin Mazur—Getty Images  Patricia Arquette attends the 88th Annual Academy Awards on Feb. 28, 2016 in Hollywood, Calif. Todd Williamson—Getty Images  Emily Blunt attends the 88th Annual Academy Awards on Feb. 28, 2016 in Hollywood, Calif. Jeff Kravitz—Getty Images  Jason Segel and Alexis Mixter attend the 88th Annual Academy Awards on Feb. 28, 2016 in Hollywood, Calif. Steve Granitz—Getty Images  Sandy Powell attends the 88th Annual Academy Awards on Feb. 28, 2016 in Hollywood, Calif. Valerie Macon—Getty Images The host also called out some of the actors who have been vocal in the call for a boycott, including Jada Pinkett Smith, whom he suggested was only upset because her husband, Will Smith, was not nominated for his performance in _Concussion_, and who, he suggested, wouldn’t have been invited to the event even if she had wanted to attend. Jokes aside, Rock’s ultimate message was clear. “We want black actors to get the same opportunities as white actors, that’s it,” he said. “Not just once.” Read the full text of Rock’s monologue below: _I’m here at the Academy Awards — otherwise known as the White People’s Choice Awards. You realize if they nominated host, I wouldn’t even get this job — y’all would be watching Neil Patrick Harris. This is the wildest, craziest Oscars to ever host because we’ve got all this controversy — no black nominees, you know? And people are like, ‘Chris, you should boycott. Chris you should quit. You should quit. How come it’s only unemployed people who tell you to quit something? No one with a job ever tells you to quit. I thought about quitting. I thought about it real hard, but I realized they’re going to have to Oscars anyway. They’re not going to cancel the Oscars because I quit. And the last thing I need is to lose another job to Kevin Hart, OK? I don’t need that. Kevin makes movies fast!_ _The big question, why this Oscars? It’s the 88th Academy Awards. It’s the 88th Academy Awards, which means this whole “no black nominees thing” has happened at least 71 other times. You’ve got to figure it happened in the ’50s, in the ’60s, one of those years Sidney \[Poitier\] didn’t pull out a movie. I’m sure there were no black nominees one of those years, say ’62 or ’63, and black people did not protest. Why? Because we had real things to protest at the time. We had real things to protest. We were too busy being raped and lynched to care about who won best cinematographer. When your grandmother’s swinging from a tree, it’s really hard to care about Best Documentary Short. But what happened this year? What happened? People went mad, Spike \[Lee\] got mad and Jada \[Pinkett Smith\] went mad and Will \[Smith\] got mad, everybody went mad. Jada got mad? Jada said she’s not coming, protesting, and I’m like, isn’t she on a TV show? Jada boycotting the Oscars is like me boycotting Rihanna’s panties: I wasn’t invited. It’s not an invitation I would turn down. But I understand. I’m not hating. Jada’s mad her man Will wasn’t nominated for_ Concussion. _I get it. It’s not fair that Will was this good and not nominated. Yeah, you’re right._ _It’s_ _also not fair that Will was paid $20 million for_ Wild Wild West_._ _This year things are going to be a little different. Things are going to be a little different at the Oscars. This year, in the In Memoriam package, it’s just going to be black people that were shot by the cops on their way to the movies. Yes, I said it. If you want black nominees every year, you need to just have black categories. That’s what you need. You need to have black categories. You already do it with men and women. Think about it, there’s no reason to have a men and women category in acting. There’s no reason. It’s not track and field; you don’t have to separate them. Robert De Niro has never said, “I’ve got to slow this acting down so Meryl Street can catch up.” If you want black people at the Oscars, just add black categories like “Best black friend.'”That’s right, and the winner for the 18th year in a row is Wanda Sykes. This is Wanda’s 18th black Oscar._ _But the real question everyone in the world wants to know is “Is Hollywood racist?” You know, you gotta go at that the right way. Is it burning cross racist? No. Is it “let’s have some lemonade” racist? No. It’s a different type of racist. I remember one night I was at a fundraiser for President Obama; a lot of you were there. It’s me and all of Hollywood, and all of us there, and there’s about four black people there — me, Quincy Jones, Russell Simmons, Questlove, you know, the usual suspects — and every black actor that wasn’t working. Needless to say, Kev Hart wasn’t there. You get a little moment with the president, and as they’re setting up the picture, you get like a little moment with the president, and I’m like, “Mr. President, you see all these writers and producers? They don’t hire black people, and they’re the nicest white people on earth, they’re liberals — cheese!”_ _Is Hollywood racist? Damn right Hollywood’s racist, a racist that you’ve grown accustomed to. Hollywood is sorority racist. It’s like, “We like you, Rhonda, but you’re not a Kappa.” That’s how Hollywood is. But things are changing. We’ve got a black_ Rocky _this year. Some people call it_ Creed, _I call it “black Rocky.” And that’s an unbelievable statement because Rocky takes place in a world where white athletes are as good as black athletes._ Rocky _is a science-fiction movie. There’s things that happen in_ Star Wars _that are more believable than things that happen in_ Rocky_._ _But we’re here to honor actors, we’re here to honor film. There are a lot of snubs. One of the biggest snubs, no one’s talking about. My favorite actor in the world is Paul Giamatti. Think about what Paul Giamatti has done in the last couple of years. Last year he was in_ 12 Years a Slave_, hates black people_ _; this year he is in_ Straight Outta Compton_, loves black people_ _. Last year he’s whipping Lupita \[Nyong’o\], this year he’s crying at Eazy-E’s funeral. Now that’s range. Ben Affleck can’t do that. It’s not about boycotting anything, it’s just we want opportunity. We want the black actors to get the same opportunities as white actors, that’s it. Not just once. Leo \[DiCaprio\] gets a great part every year. All of you guys get great parts all the time. But what about the black actors? What about Jamie Foxx? Jamie Foxx is one of the best actors in the world. Jamie Foxx was so good in_ Ray _that they went to the hospital and unplugged the real Ray Charles. “W_ _e don’t need two of these!” Naw man. Everything is not about race._ _Another big thing tonight is, you’re not allowed to ask women what they’re wearing anymore. “Ask her more.” You have to ask her more. Everything is not sexism, everything is not racism. They ask the men more because the men are all wearing the same outfit. Every guy is wearing the exact same thing. If George Clooney showed up with a lime green tux on, and a swan coming out his ass, somebody would go, “What you wearing, George?” Welcome to the 88th Oscars, Academy Awards. Yes, thank you. You want diversity? We got diversity. Please welcome Emily Blunt, and somebody white, Charlize Theron._ ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4239748/chris-rock-oscar-monologue-video/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4239748/chris-rock-oscar-monologue-video/"},"headline":"Watch Chris Rock's Oscar Monologue: 'Damn Right, Hollywood's Racist'","datePublished":"2016-02-29T02:05:53.000Z","dateModified":"2026-05-11T05:00:20.688Z","description":"The host didn't hold back in his discussion of racism in the film industry","url":"https://time.com/4239748/chris-rock-oscar-monologue-video/","keywords":["awards","movies","Oscars","Chris Rock"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltbc385f5d1b24d8e0/69887f80a988ca11606b6c81/chris-rock-oscars-2016.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Eliza Berman","jobTitle":"Berman is a senior editor at TIME.","url":"https://time.com/author/eliza-berman/"}],"articleSection":"Entertainment","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltbc385f5d1b24d8e0/69887f80a988ca11606b6c81/chris-rock-oscars-2016.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Chris Rock","caption":"Chris Rock","creditText":"Chris Pizzello—AP","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/entertainment/","name":"Entertainment"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/awards/","name":"awards"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4239748/chris-rock-oscar-monologue-video/","name":"Watch Chris Rock's Oscar Monologue: 'Damn Right, Hollywood's Racist'"}}]}] ```