Tonight, Chris Rock was on a mission to remind people that he's a fearless comedian, and not a lot of viewers are happy about it. During his Saturday Night Live monologue, Rock's set included bits on the Boston Marathon bombings and 9/11.
"That was probably the most frightening, sadistic terrorist attack ever," Rock said in his opening. "Their knees are hurting, their feet are killing them...You've been training for a year, you finally get to the finish line, and somebody screams: 'Run!'"
On the Freedom Tower, Rock continued, "They should change the name from the Freedom Tower to the 'Never Going in There' Tower. Because I'm never going in there. There is no circumstance that will ever get me in that building."
He then went on to joke about America's way of commercializing everything, saying "We're only five years away from 9/11 sales. That's right, you're gonna hear it on the radio: 'Come on down to Red Lobster, these shrimp are 9 dollars and 11 cents!"
While some viewers on Twitter cringed at his monologue:
Getting a pap smear by captain hook would be more comfortable than watching Chris rock's monologue on SNL.
— Christina Leake (@_bobina) November 2, 2014
this chris rock monologue is really really missing the mark for me. terrorism jokes? couldn't think of anything better, really? #SNL
— Eric Saber (@ericsaber) November 2, 2014
Others stepped up to defend him:
Chris Rock's SNL monologue was excellent and ballsy. Crowd was so uneasy laughing at the start... But it was outstanding
— Hes CLEthan Skolnick (@MikeRyan790) November 2, 2014
Chris Rock, your monologue is making me extremely uncomfortable. Please stop. This is not okay. This is not funny. This is offensive.
— cranberryann (@maryannkristen) November 2, 2014
Takes some balls from Chris Rock to make 9/11 jokes on SNL in new york city. Good thing the jokes were funny
— Casey (@KcF666) November 2, 2014
From filming a documentary about black hair to claiming he's the best comic you'll ever see because, well, as he put it, "I'm black," Rock is obviously no stranger to controversy, even if he does occasionally take roles in family-friendly comedies like Grown Ups 2 and Madagascar.
Was Rock, who's currently promoting his movie Top Five, just doing his job, or has he "done took this shit to another fucking level?" Check out the video and let us know what you think.
[via GossipCop]