Tyrese Gibson: If Oscars blackballed gays Ellen DeGeneres wouldn’t host

Actor and singer Tyrese Gibson seems to be standing by his disapproval of black comedian Chris Rock hosting the Academy Awards...

Chris Witherspoon |

Jan 20, 2016

Luther Vandross was outed as gay after his death.

Actor and singer Tyrese Gibson seems to be standing by his disapproval of black comedian Chris Rock hosting the Academy Awards. The Baby Boy star also said he is heartbroken over the timing of this year’s #OscarsSoWhite discussion.

“It breaks my heart that this controversy about the Oscars is happening on the year that we all believe [DiCaprio] is going to win the Oscar for best actor,” the star said of his friend Leonardo DiCaprio, who is nominated for his lead role in the film Revenant.

Tyrese buys 8-year-old daughter a private island

Gibson and his new co-host, Reverend Run, stopped by TheGrio during a press tour for their new relationship talk show on the OWN Network It’s Not You It’s Men, but his continued frustration over the Academy Awards was obvious.

What did Tyrese write to Donald Trump?

Gibson took to Instagram earlier this week and questioned whether Rock should still host the award show in late February.

View this post on Instagram

#AgressiveRant This is my message to today's LAZY LEADERS.. The ones who are so concerned about being black balled out of this town and industry that they would rather SIT on their hands and cry at home to their wives and girlfriends and not DO anything.. The ones who only pop and talk shit on social media and DO nothing.. The ones who wanna protest but ONLY protest when it's convenient. It's SAD SAD SAD to see that were still living in a generation of "Followers" and not enough REAL LEADERS… Every March Dr King initiated. He could of been killed, this was long before social media and CSI and DNA, and or all of this high tech stuff that we have NOW to find murderers at our disposal.. Yeah you may have 60 million followers on your little pink ass Facebook and Instagram but it doesn't mean SHIT if you ain't using your influence to effect change..You got money??? You turnt?? That's cool…. Can anybody tell me HOW MUCH Dr Martin Luther King Jr was worth when he stood on that balcony and was assassinated??? Did he have a fancy car on 26" wheels as apart of his statement to effect change??? How was it possible that a million people showed up for his I HAVE A DREAM Speech without him tweeting or putting it up on his social media?? Cause HE was a true leader.. #OscarsSoWhite..??? Mainstream Radio?? only playing white artist when THEY sing R&B Soul???? This is modern day racism.. I fear NO MAN.. I fear NO SYSTEM. I don't seek your validation and I don't need your approval.. But I won't sit down and sit ON my hands and just let this ALL go down without speaking On it.. It's really really sad to see that press and media coverage that Donald Trump is getting when he CLEARLY doesn't represent the VOICE of America.. Is Chris Rock still gonna host the oscars after this blatant racism?? Is everyone still gonna show up?? In this town I guess it takes homosexuals to be discriminated against in Oder for someone to finally step UP and wanna do something… You have to take your hat off to the homosexual and gay community cause right now they're as strong as black people USE to be when it comes to their rights…

A post shared by TYRESE (@tyrese) on Jan 18, 2016 at 5:32pm PST

Wednesday, Gibson doubled down on his social media statements.

“No one wants Chris Rock to not feed his family and get a gig that he is excited and proud about,” Tyrese said. “No one knew that no one of African-American descent was gonna end up getting an Oscar nomination for maybe two or three years in a row.”

Gibson continued by saying that African-Americans should take a page from the LGBT community when it comes to protesting being shut out of the award’s major nominations.

“If Ellen DeGeneres or Andy Cohen of Watch What Happens Live was hosting the Oscars and the word got out that if you happen to be gay or homosexual you got blackballed and no nomination because of your sexual preference, they would have stepped down a long time ago,” Tyrese said. “And it would have been fire heat controversy all over the place until the system changed.”