Saturday Night Live has been known to push the boundaries of comedy. The show made no exception to this tradition on Nov. 1, when Chris Rock hosted.
Rock was an SNL cast member from 1990 to 1993 and had not been back to the show since 1996. His return was underwhelming, to say the least.
In his opening monologue, Rock made jokes about the Boston Marathon bombings and the 2001 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center.
“In America, there are no sacred days because we commercialize everything… we’re five years away from having 9/11 sales! ‘Come on down to Red Lobster! These lobsters are nine dollars and eleven cents,’” said the former cast member.
Rock also made insensitive jokes about the Freedom Tower’s opening.
“They should change the name from the Freedom Tower to the ‘I’m never going in that tower’ because I’m never going in there…does this building duck?” said Rock.
He received a few isolated laughs from the audience, but mostly awkward chuckles. Rock stated that rebuilding the Freedom Tower in the same spot as the original World Trade Center was a bit arrogant on Americans’ part.
Is Rock saying that if you stand up to terrorist, you are arrogant? Rock shows a blatant disrespect for the thousands of innocent civilians, firemen and police officers who died that day, as well as all of our service men and women who have been injured or killed fighting the war on terror.
The majority of people agree that Rock should not have used the Freedom Tower for the sole purpose of getting a few laughs out of the audience. As an American, he should be proud to enter the Freedom Tower. He should be proud of a symbol that stands up to oppression.
Rock warned the audience that 9/11 will become commercialized. But what he did not realize was that he was acting as the main perpetrator of the phenomenon. Rock made the 9/11 jokes for the purpose of gaining publicity, and by extension, money. His hypocrisy is disgusting. Appalled by the monologue, many right-minded Americans took to Twitter and Facebook to express their feelings for the pinhead Chris Rock.
“Hey Chris Rock, hard to believe I know, but jokes about the Boston Marathon and 9/11 are awful. #SNL,” said @JordanWellin on Twitter.
Should comedians like Chris Rock be allowed to go on television and say these things? Of course, they are allowed to say what they want, but it is up to the American people to identify the garbage some people spit and to make sure that the rest of the world does not judge the country based on that trash.