Chris Rock

When Chris Rock first hosted the Oscars in 2005, the four black actors nominated that year — Morgan Freeman, Don Cheadle, Sophie Okonedo and Jamie Foxx (twice!) — didn’t escape his notice.

“It’s like the Def Oscar Jam!” Rock exclaimed.

The story will be slightly different this time around.

When Rock strides onto the Dolby Theatre stage on Feb. 28, he’ll see no nominated African-American actors before him. He’ll instead be greeted by a Hollywood beset by a crisis over diversity that has led to calls for a boycott of the broadcast, spurred the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences to rewrite its membership bylaws and even sparked pleas for Rock, himself, to pull out.

In the ongoing fallout, it’s unclear just what awaits the academy and Hollywood come show time. A reckoning? A catharsis? Awkward fits of laughter?

Probably all of the above.

What is certain is that a confluence of events has placed one of America’s most perceptive and sharp-tongued commentators on race smack dab in the middle of a storm that could hardly suit anyone better. It’s safe to say that no Academy Awards opening monologue has ever been more anticipated. The spotlight on Oscar night will be trained on no one — not Leonardo DiCaprio or Jennifer Lawrence — like it is on Rock.

“This could be a defining moment for Chris Rock,” Cheadle told The Associated Press. “And I hope it is.”

R&B singer Tyrese Gibson and rapper 50 Cent have said Rock should step down. Golden Globes host Ricky Gervais encouraged Rock to start the show “in a KKK hood, then whip it off & say, ‘Sorry, it’s the only way I could get in.’“

Whoopi Goldberg has defended him: “Boycotting doesn’t work and it’s also a slap in the face of Chris Rock,” she said.

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