Chris Rock wanted to be the ‘king of the jungle’ when he first started Madagascar. Rock is getting more comfortable with his role as Marty the zebra in Madagascar 3, the third film in the popular animated film series. Mediaite reports that Rock told Today‘s Ann Curry that he realizes his character is an homage to the president, “he’s black and white. He appeals to all. And that’s what I’m going for,” said Rock.

Thursday morning, comedian Chris Rock said that his recurring zebra character in the animated Madagascar series of movies is “in honor of our zebra President [Barack Obama].”

NBC’s Today Show host Ann Curry asked Rock the important question regarding his role as Marty the zebra: “If you could be any animal in the animal kingdom, Chris, what would it be?”

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