Chris Rock (58) and the Oscars – that will probably no longer be love in this life. At least since the notorious slap in the face by Will Smith (54), the blessing of the house seems to be crooked. At first, Rock declined an invitation to host this year’s 95th annual ceremony on March 12. Now, according to “Entertainment Weekly”, he poisoned the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences with hearty swearwords and called its members “damn assholes”.
However, the reason for this verbal outburst of anger has nothing to do with his person. Rather, it is the way the Academy has always treated his good friend Adam Sandler (56) that drives him mad. In his eyes, it is an absolute cheek that Sandler has never been nominated for an Oscar. “We all work hard, but no one works as hard as the Sandman,” the site quoted Rock as saying.
In the comedian’s eyes, the most recent affront may have been that Sandler was again not considered for a nomination for his role in the Netflix drama “Hustle” this year. Quite a few industry insiders had expected Sandler to be considered as a candidate for the leading actor Oscar. In the end, however, Austin Butler (31), Colin Farrell (46), Paul Mescal (27), Bill Nighy (73) and Brendan Fraser (54) were nominated, the latter grabbed the trophy for “The Whale”.
Rock and Sandler have known each other for a good 30 years and both started their careers on the US cult format “Saturday Night Live”. Since then, the two men have been close friends, Rock’s harsh broadside against the Oscar Academy he had fired during a eulogy for his buddy at the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor. Next Sunday (March 26) the ceremony in honor of Adam Sandler, in which Jennifer Aniston (54), Pete Davidson (29) and Drew Barrymore (48) also have their say, will be broadcast by US broadcaster CNN.
