Chris Rock Reacts To People Saying That His Comedy Mainly Appeals To White People [VIDEO]

Chris Rock Opens Up About People Saying That His Comedy Mainly Appeals To White People: ‘Oh, you think only white people like me? Okay well I’m going to the Apollo and there ain’t going to be no white people nowhere’

Chris Rock addresses the misconception that his comedy mainly appeals to white people.

During a recent interview with Kevin Hart, 43, on his new Peacock tv series, “Hart to Hart,” Chris Rock candidly spoke about his career and some of the criticism he has received when it comes to his style of comedy. During the interview, the 57-year-old comedian/actor recalled that after his 1996 comedy special, ‘Bring The Pain,’ critics began to say his comedy was for white people– a comment he wasn’t too fond of. He explained, 

“So I do bring the pain and I’m on Oprah and I’m on 60 minutes and I’m just all– i’m on the cover of every magazine or whatever in the world. But you had that Whitney Houston rumbling was like ‘only white people like it, too many white people like him.'”

chris rock

He continued,

“So when it was time to do my next special, I’m like ‘oh, you think only white people like me?’ okay well I’m going to the Apollo and there ain’t going to be no white people nowhere and I’m gonna call the special–this is the blackest special you’ve ever seen,”

referring to his 1999 comedy special Bigger and Blacker which many credit as one of the best stand up specials of all time.

In the interview, Kevin Hart shared similar sentiments as Chris Rock, admitting that he also gets similar criticism and remarks about his style of comedy. Kevin explained,

“It’s the success of the comedian that has found a way to cross over and appeal to all, right. The universal comic, people remove the word universal and they just throw in the the word white. You forget that the the world is massive. So one of the best pieces of advices that I’ve ever gotten was from you in regards to comedy. It was, ‘Hey, don’t be local. The world is big. Go travel, be funny to everybody.'”

Kevin Hart

Both comedians then reflect on other comedy giants who had a similar crossover and universal appeal. While giving Chris Rock his credit for laying out a blueprint for rising comedians, Kevin Hart said,

“you in your prime and even and now, well, you define funny differently because you stay true to yourself. You never shy away from what you feel but you made everybody grasp what it was that you were trying to say it was never a barrier of language of what does he mean.”

He continued,

“Eddie [Murphy] did that, Richard [Pryer] did that….Dave [Chappelle] did it, you [Chris Rock] do it very f**ing well.”

Chris Rock quickly interjected to add Martin Lawrence to the list.

“Let’s never leave out the great Martin Lawrence.”

Both men agreed that Martin Lawrence doesn’t get the credit he deserves.

Martin Lawrence

Chris Rock–who was reportedly discovered by Eddie Murphy–has had a successful career spanning over 30 years. His successes includes two Emmy award-winning HBO specials, three Grammy award-winning comedy albums and the popular sitcom Everybody Hates Chris as well as starring in popular movies like ‘New Jack City,’ ‘Boomerang,’ ‘Bad Company,’ and ‘Death At A Funeral.’ He has hosted the Academy Awards twice.

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