You can never hit a woman. It's a common refrain for many men and one Chris Rock once believed in. But it appears his stance has changed, at least on-stage, as shown in his New Yorker profile. While testing out new jokes at the Comedy Center in New York Rock riffed on Ray Rice and Chris Brown's domestic violence charges.
"People say there’s no reason to ever hit a woman. No—there’s no reason to ever hit a woman first. You can hit a woman back—shit, if Oprah hit me I’d knock her the fuck out! “No one ever asked the question ‘Who hit first?’ Best journalists in the world, not one asked the question. ‘It’s not important.’ Yes, it is! It’s the most important question on earth.
"The United States bombed fuckin’ Japan. We killed so many people—like, twelve 9/11s on one day. Because they hit first. We’re bombing up Syria—they cut off two people’s heads! We’re going to kill hundreds of thousands of people! And it’s O.K.! “Because they hit first."
We're not going to endorse what Rock said, but we're also not going to hop on the Chris Rock outrage bandwagon that hit the road after his SNL monologue. The routine was still in its early stages—Rock likened his surprise set to going to the gym, where you practice instead of showing off. And qualifiers aside, the audience kept laughing.
Even when he makes us uncomfortable—especially then, really—Chris Rock is the standup comedian we need now more than ever.
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[via New Yorker]
