Host Chris Rock gave an unrestrained monologue at the beginning of the 2016 Academy Awards about the diversity problem with this year's batch of nominees, but the comedian also took it a step further. A video during the show featured Rock, Tracy Morgan, Whoopi Goldberg and Leslie Jones in an #OscarsSoWhite sketch that featured the black actors in some films from the past year.
"As you know, for the second year in a row, all the acting nominees are white," Rock said as he introduced the clip. "But worse than that, if you're a black actor, just getting the opportunity to be in a movie can be a struggle. Let's take a look."
The sketch then opened with Goldberg in a scene from the film "Joy" in which Jennifer Lawrence plays the inventor of a miracle mop. Goldberg, dressed as a janitor, explained to Lawrence's character that selling her product was not hard. "It's not rocket science, it's a mop," said Goldberg. "Maybe one day they'll make a movie about a skinny white lady that made a mop. A black girl would have to invent the cure for cancer before they give her a TV movie."
Next, "Saturday Night Live" star Jones replaced the bear that attacked Leonardo DiCaprio in "The Revenant." "There are no black actresses in this movie," Jones yelled at DiCaprio.
The next scene involved Morgan taking over the starring role in "The Danish Girl." Dressed in a white dress and wearing red lipstick, the "Saturday Night Live" alum channeled Eddie Redmayne's performance.
"I'm the Danish Girl," Morgan said to Alicia Vikander's character as he chomped on a danish. "These danishes is good, girl."
The fourth clip in the sketch starred Rock as Matt Damon's character in "The Martian." However, unlike the real life version of the film, the NASA characters played by Jeff Daniels and Kristen Wiig seemed less enthusiastic about saving Rock from Mars, stating they were not in any rush to bring a black astronaut home because it would cost $2,500 "white dollars."
Check out the sketch below.
Some of @ChrisRock's favorite deleted scenes. #Oscarshttps://t.co/TwhpqMEfdK
— The Academy (@TheAcademy) February 29, 2016
