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Your Black Celebrities: Chris Rock ‘Brings The Pain’ In ‘Kill The Messenger’
Chris Rock is smoking-hot. Time named him one of the 100 most influential people in the world last spring. During his ongoing “The No Apologies Tour,” he set a Guinness world record by playing to 15,900 people, the largest stand-up comedy performance in British history.
And his fifth HBO special, “Chris Rock: Kill the Messenger,” premieres tonight, featuring footage from performances in South Africa, London and New York. Talking from his home in an exclusive New Jersey town, while he finds “Franklin” on TV for one of his daughters, Rock, 43, reflects on this special, politics and his career.
Q. Do you do the same act for every show?
A. I definitely vary it and try to figure out something with where you are at. If I was in Detroit, I’d figure out a Kwame Kilpatrick (who recently resigned as mayor of Detroit) angle. As soon as I check into the hotel, I make sure they have all the papers. And I watch the local news. It is kind of the same show; it’s like a singer changing a line in the song.
Q. Why tape the HBO show over three nights in three places?
A. If you close your eyes, it will play like one show; you will never know the difference. My stuff works all over the world – it’s not just me. People laugh at the same things all over the world.
Q. Overseas they know who our political leaders are and seem more tuned in to American news than we are with other parts of the world. Is this your experience?
A. They know who Dick Cheney is. We don’t know who replaced Tony Blair. Forget the second guy; we don’t know who the first guy is – those of us who even know who Tony Blair is.
Q. As an early Obama supporter, do you think he’s a definite?
A. This could be like the New England Patriots. The New England Patriots should be a lesson to all about being overconfident…
Your Black Global: Dr. Susan Rice Reportedly Next U.S. Ambassador To UN
Several news agencies are reporting that former Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs under Bill Clinton, Dr. Susan Rice (no relations to the other Dr. Rice), is a top contender for U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, under the next administration. This is somewhat ironic because Dr. Susan Rice, like the present Secretary of state, shares some foreign policy views that pose a threat to Obama’s message of dialogue, negotiation, and diplomacy — even with regard to the UN. In a 2008 Washington Post Op-Ed, Dr. Rice suggested that:
Dr. Rice’s rhetoric is very much regrettable at a time when Africom poses a lethal threat to Africa’s sovereignty. The implications of her statements are sobering, and frightening. A selection of Dr. Rice, as Ambassador, is simply a further reminder of the work ahead of those who value the humanity of African brothers and sisters: