It’s refreshing to see someone in Hollywood avoid the familiar ritual of Trump-bashing. It’s even more refreshing to see someone in Hollywood defend him to a certain extent.
On October 6, on the Graham Norton Show, a British talk show, comedian Chris Rock, a celebrity who has supported Barack Obama in the past, refused to engage in the great celebrity wave of throwing insults at President Donald Trump. Instead, he said, “I like Trump. It might work out. Give him a chance!”
The host, Graham Norton, and one of the guest stars, actor Idris Elba, tried to pry a Trump joke out of Chris Rock, who was promoting his new global comedy tour on the show. Where most comedians would have cracked a couple of jokes and moved on, Rock focused on the concept that while Trump was now considered by Hollywood to be “the devil,” he used to be considered “the man.”
Graham Norton: Here’s the thing, I mean the Trump jokes sort of just write themselves for you.
Chris Rock: Yes, unfortunately, yes. I like Trump. It might work out. Give him a chance.
Idris Elba: Do you go at him in your show?
Rock: I--a little. You know what’s really wild? I -- I don’t know him know him, but I used to see Trump like at clubs and stuff.
He went on to point on the vast difference between how people treated him then, as opposed to now.
Rock reminisced: “Like twenty years ago, they would be all over him. And he’d leave and there would be a bunch of girls, like, “Trump! Trump!” Yes! He was the man! Now he’s the devil!”
Rock also told the story of what it was like at the Obamas’ last party at the White House. He told a tongue-in-cheek tale of the hilarious consolation he gave to a distraught Michelle Obama (the same story he told Jimmy Fallon in May.)
“I was there. It was scary. It was sad. I just remember like hanging out and like, first of all, every black person was there, like Jay-Z, Beyonce, Oprah, it was just like I’d died and gone to black heaven. I remember at one point in the night, I was like, with Michelle Obama, and she was like, kind of sad. And she’s like, 'I don’t know what we’re gonna do. I don’t know what’s gonna happen.' And I was like, 'You’ll be all right' You know, you’ll be all right, you know, Housewives of Atlanta, you know, something. You’ll get on something. You will be fine.' And she looks at me, and she goes, 'I was talking about the country.' I never felt so stupid in my life.”
