Add Tyrese Gibson to the list of people who were not pleased with Chris Rock’s opening monologue at Sunday night’s (Feb. 28) Oscars. The highly-anticipated performance found viewers sitting on their hands, waiting for Rock to address the #OscarsSoWhite controversy, and the singer/actor was among those who felt let down. Mainly because of Rock’s commentary on one thing: Jada Pinkett-Smith’s boycott.
Taking a stab at Pinkett-Smith’s assertion that black entertainers need not “beg” for inclusion, Rock questioned what the actress’s relevance to the issue was. Comparing Pinkett-Smith’ relation to the Oscars to his own relation to a certain pop star’s undergarments, Rock really took it there.
“Jada got mad, Jada says she’s not coming, protesting, I’m like — doesn’t she have a TV show? Jada boycotting the Oscars is like me boycotting Rihanna’s panties. I wasn’t invited,” he said.
Ahead of the Oscars, Tyrese attempted to encourage Rock to back out of his Oscars hosting gig. And apparently the results of the comedian’s failure to heed his advice “f**ked up” Tyrese’s night. Posting video commentary of his thoughts to Instagram, Tyrese also included a lengthy caption addressing the monologue. Luckily for the singer’s mood, the event’s only saving grace was Leonardo DiCaprio’s long-overdue win.
“Did you really use your STAGE to tear down and diminish one of the strongest most fearless black women IN this town as the world watched??? Jokes are just jokes right???? Not when someone is trying to affect change,” Tyrese wrote. “Not when someone is willing to put it ALL on the line to affect change for our daughters and sons of the future.”
Has this moved past the “agree to disagree” stage for Tyrese? Watch his reaction to Chris Rock below: