Academy Awards - The Oscars -The Story, The Boycott - Racism

Hollywood IS racist': Chris Rock skewers his Oscars audience and killer cops in rip-roaring monologue 

...Hollywood was 'sorority racist' - only giving white people roles
'''We want opportunity,' said Rock. 'We want black actors to get the same opportunities.' 

...Is Hollywood racist? ... you're damn right,' said Rock.

Telling it like it is: Chris Rock did not disappoint with his highly anticipated monologue that tackled the #OscarsSoWhite controversy head on

Rock and roll: Chris Rock took no prisoners during his scathing monologue as the comedian opened the 88th Academy Awards in LA on Sunday 

All eyes on Chris: The comedian tore into white dominated Hollywood - but also put this years race controversy into a historical perspective by mentioning the Civil Rights struggle of the 1960s

'You realize if they nominated hosts, I wouldn't even get this job. You'd be watching Neil Patrick Harris right now,' said Rock

Speculating on why the furor over diversity in the industry had taken root this year, rather than in the 1950s or 1960s, Rock

'Because we had real things to protest at the time. We were too busy being raped and lynched to care about who won best cinematographer.'

'When your grandmother is swinging from a tree, it's really hard to care about best documentary foreign short.'

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Plain speaking: The comedian - who has presented the Oscars once before - told Hollywood it has a duty to offer black actors the same opportunities as white ones

Unreserved praise: Chelsea Handler left no doubt what she thought of Chris Rock's opening monologue

Support: Celebrities chimed in with their reactions to Chris Rock's brutally funny opening monologue as host of the 88th Academy Awards

'It's not fair that Will Smith was this good in 'Concussion and didn't get nominated. It's also not fair that Will was paid $20 million for 'Wild Wild West!', was one of Rock's first zingers aimed at the Hollywood power couple.

Racism

Before the ceremony, a few blocks away from the glamour of Hollywood's Dolby Theatre, about 40 people gathered to make the case for more diversity in a rally organized by civil rights leader Al Sharpton.

He had called for Americans to 'tune-out' the live telecast, the most watched non-sports TV event of the year.

Principled staned: Will Smith (right) and Jada Pinkett Smith (left) spoke out when all the nominees in this year's best acting categories were revealed to be white

Boycott and protest: Spike Lee - dressed in a tuxedo - sits courtside to watch his beloved New York Knicks instead of attending the Oscars in Los Angeles after boycotting the ceremony ahead of this years race row

Director Spike Lee, actor Will Smith and his wife Jada Pinkett Smith have shunned the Academy Award ceremony

'The big thing is it's almost 100 percent white men who decide what gets made and what doesn't get made,' Lee said. 'That's where the problem is at.'

'It's all of our responsibility to make sure that diversity does happen,' Academy president Cheryl Boone Isaacs 'We are going to continue to take action and not just speak.'

Protest: Reverend Al Sharpton (R) leads a protest against the all-white slate of Oscar acting nominees, near the Academy Awards ceremony in Los Angeles, California on Sunday 

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