Chris Rock is a comedian long known for his envelope-pushing comedy. In fact, the funnyman is currently out promoting the new movie Top Five which he directed, wrote and stars in.
Last month he ruffled some feathers with his Saturday Night Live monologue where he said he’d never go in the newly opened Freedom Tower, proving that his outspoken and honest brand of comedy isn’t for everyone.
But he’s long used his name to say what’s on his mind, and he’s got opinions on politics, terrorism and the economy in general. He shared many with journalist Frank Rich during a recent New York magazine interview.
The Vulture piece touches on everything from how he’d handle Ferguson if he was a reporter (“I’d do a special on race, but I’d have no black people”) to the problems that have faced the Obama administration.
In particular, Rock gives his thoughts on what Obama should have done about the economy when he first got elected:
“He should have let it all just drop…. Just let the country flatline. Let the auto industry die. Don’t bail anybody out. In sports, that’s what any new GM does. They make sure that the catastrophe is on the old management and then they clean up. They don’t try to save old management’s mistakes… That way you can implement. You hire your own coach. You get your own players. He could have got way more done. You know, we’ve all been on planes that had tremendous turbulence, but we forget all about it. Now, if you live through a plane crash, you’ll never forget that. Maybe Obama should have let the plane crash. You get credit for bringing somebody back from the dead. You don’t really get credit for helping a sick person by administering antibiotics.”
And he compares the Bush and Obama presidencies to running a television network:
“The thing about George Bush is that the kid revolutionized the presidency. How? He was the first president who only served the people who voted for him. He literally operated like a cable network… He’s the first cable-television president, and the thing liberals don’t like about Obama is that he’s a network guy. He’s kind of (CBS President) Les Moonves. He’s trying to get everybody. And I think he’s figured out, and maybe a little late, that there’s some people he’s never going to get.”
Rock’s opinions may not win him popularity points with some people, but he’s not afraid to put himself out there, and face whatever backlash may come his way.
Here is Chris Rock on SNL.
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Frank Rich’s New York Magazine Interview with Chris Rock
Angel Cohn is a freelance journalist who has written about entertainment and television for the last 15 years. She is currently an editor at NJFamily.com. Follow her on Twitter at @angelcohn.
