Chris Rock: One And Done At The Oscars
Today's NY Times confirms what we've all known in our hearts since the final credits of last year's Oscar ceremony: that Chris Rock won't be back to emcee for the billions of worldwide gays that tune in for Hollywood's Biggest Night. Says Rock's flack:
"He didn't want to do it in perpetuity," said Matt Labov, Mr. Rock's publicist. "He'd like to do it again down the road."
Leave it to a publicist to make it sound like the gig was a lifetime appointment, where a graying Rock would maneuver his walker to the center of the stage and wait for the orchestra's strains to fade before beginning his annual brutalization of pretty boy actor Jude Law. Rock's risky set had consequences, though, and the Times quotes the Academy president as saying, "We want to do the right job in honoring the artist, and to make an entertaining show," Which, of course, can mean only one thing: throwing a big bag of money at Billy Crystal, Steve Martin, or Whoopi Goldberg, old pros who hardly even flinch each time Oscar producer Gil Cates pushes the button that sends controversy-averting shocks through an electronic collar around the host's neck.
