Chris Rock didn’t shy away from jokes
about the lack of diversity at the Oscars; he opened by welcoming the audience
to the “white people’s choice awards” and closed the night inviting the
all-white acting nominees to the BET Awards. But a joke of Rock’s in the middle
of the ceremony, using three Asian children as props, is drawing ire over its
use of stereotypes to make a punchline.
The joke in question
came during the annual segment in which attorneys from PricewaterhouseCoopers —
the accounting firm tasked with tallying and safeguarding the Oscar results —
are brought on stage. It is typically one of the driest elements of the night,
but Rock’s attempt to infuse the segment with a little humour fell flat during
what was an otherwise successful night of jokes.
“They sent us their
most dedicated, accurate, and hard-working representatives,” Rock said
onstage. “I want you to please welcome Ming Zu, Bao Ling, and David
Moskowitz.”
In that moment, out came
three Asian children holding briefcases.
But if
a joke about Asian children’s math proficiency wasn’t enough, Rock dug the
knife in deeper with a joke about their exploitation in the international
manufacturing industry.
“If
anybody’s upset about that joke, just tweet about it on your phone that was
also made by these kids,” Rock said.
The
racist bit stands out as a glaring moment of tone-deafness in a night which
highlighted the struggles of people of colour in the entertainment industry.
While Rock’s jokes about non-white actor’s exclusion from the nominations shone
a light on the Academy’s failings to value equality, the bit about Asian kids
being good at math shone a light on his own failings to do the same.