Chris Rock rewrites Oscars monologue to address #OscarsSoWhite

Jan 25, 2016

On Saturday, Academy Awards producer Reginald Hudlin sat down with Entertainment Tonight‘s Nischelle Turner to say that Chris Rock would not be dropping out of the Oscars because of the #OscarsSoWhite controversy, but the comedian was rewriting his monologue to address the issue.

Hudlin explained that, even though Rock finished writing his monologue a week ago, the controversy surrounding the all-white nominations in the major acting categories prompted Rock to scrap what he had and start over.

“Chris is hard at work. He and his writing staff locked themselves in a room,” Hudlin told ET. “As things got a little provocative and exciting, he said, ‘I’m throwing out the show I wrote and writing a new show.'”

“Chris is that thorough,” Hudlin added. “He’s that brilliant, and I have 1000 percent confidence that he will deliver something that people will be talking about for weeks.”

Part of the rewrites, Hudlin promised, would definitely include #OscarsSoWhite material.

“You should expect [#OscarsSoWhite jokes],” Hudlin told ET. “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.”

Rock has also addressed the controversy on Twitter after tweeting out an ad for the awards along with the caption: “The #Oscars. The White BET Awards.”