Chris Rock on Being Mexican in Hollywood: “There’s a Slave State in L.A.”

*This is a conversation we’ve been having for a long time. What’s new about this Chris Rock essay is that Chris Rock wrote it. By that I mean the incisive, blunt, straight-forward way he has of delivering his messages/comedy/insights. This is just an excerpt of a larger essay, but it’s caused waves of approval in the Latino community. Rock took an long-held complaint and amplified it many times over. Read it an you’ll see why. VL

By Andrea Gompf, Remezcla

Chris Rock has been on an interview roll lately — ostensibly, he’s being doing the press rounds to promote his upcoming film Top Five, but when you sit down and read the interviews you’ll notice he’s mainly using them to voice his thoughts on race relations, Ferguson, politics, role models of color, and other grievances he just clearly needs to vent about. Today, he’s at it again, publishing a scathing essay about race in Hollywood in The Hollywood Reporter that had our office throwing emoji praise hands left and right.

Relaying his personal experiences as a black artist in a very white entertainment industry, Rock explores the challenges and frustrations of finding support and community in Hollywood. “If Kevin Hart is playing 40,000 seats a night, and Jon Stewart is playing 3,000 … why does Kevin Hart have to cross over?,” he asks. PREACH. But Rock doesn’t stop there, he also had this to say about the state of Latinos, and Mexicans in particular, in Los Angeles:

Forget whether Hollywood is black enough. A better question is: Is Hollywood Mexican enough? You’re in L.A, you’ve got to try not to hire Mexicans. It’s the most liberal town in the world, and there’s a part of it that’s kind of racist — not racist like “F— you, nigger” racist, but just an acceptance that there’s a slave state in L.A. There’s this acceptance that Mexicans are going to take care of white people in L.A. that doesn’t exist anywhere else. I remember I was renting a house in Beverly Park while doing some movie, and you just see all of the Mexican people at 8 o’clock in the morning in a line driving into Beverly Park like it’s General Motors. It’s this weird town.

You’re telling me no Mexicans are qualified to do anything at a studio? Really? Nothing but mop up?

Click HERE to read the full story.

[Photo by whittlz/Flickr]

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