James Delingpole James Delingpole

What a gloriously easy living Chris Rock makes from his comedy

Plus: why I strongly advise against dying up Mount Everest

Chris Rock at the Hippodrome Theater, Baltimore. Image: Kirill Bichutsky / Netflix © 2023 
issue 18 March 2023

Chris Rock was paid $20 million for his 70-minute Netflix special, so by my reckoning his riff on whether or not the royal family are racist must have made him more than a million quid. Was it worth the money? Well, I enjoyed it but I’m not sure how well it will translate here, in precis, with all the swearing removed.

At that altitude, bodies get frozen to three times their normal weight

Rock begins by pointing up the absurdity of Meghan Markle (winner of the ‘lightskin lottery’, he says) complaining to Oprah: ‘I didn’t know how racist they were.’ ‘It’s the royal family!’ expostulates Rock. ‘They’re the OGs [Original Gangstas] of racism. They’re the Sugarnill Gang of racism.’ (The 1980s cultural references give you an idea of the age of Rock’s mostly black audience at the live recording in Baltimore.)

He then goes on to point out what nonsense it is for Markle to have taken offence when her in-laws speculated on the skin colour of her offspring.

Comments

Join the debate for just $5 for 3 months

Be part of the conversation with other Spectator readers by getting your first three months for $5.

Already a subscriber? Log in