14 DAY TRIAL // The 2014 BET Awards brought in the crème de la crème of the African-American community last night, and comedian Chris Rock, who hadn't hosted anything since the 2005 Oscars, proved he never really lost his touch as he made funny and offensive jokes throughout the evening.
The comedian started off things in the opening monologue by picking on Donald Sterling, the NBA owner who not too long ago came to the attention of the press thanks to his racial remarks and subsequent scandal.
Chris wasn't apparently a big fan of the Los Angeles Clippers owner, and he didn't mind sharing some of that displeasure on stage with the audience. During his opening speech at the Nokia Theater, Chris began with a slavery joke that made several people blush.
He suggested that the first black man Sterling had ever laid eyes upon was a slave, given to him as a festive gift. “The first black man he met, he got for Christmas,” Rock told a shocked audience. Playing off Sterling's old age, he added that “First of all, a black man couldn't look him in the eye till he was 45.”
However, Chris also saw Sterling's point of view and conceded that he understood his reasons for being insecure, “Let me get this straight an 83-year-old white man doesn't like black people. Is that news?”
He then explained the entire scandal with the leaked phone conversation in which Sterling told then-girlfriend V. Stiviano not to bring black people to Clippers games. “What exactly did Donald Sterling say? ‘I dont want my woman around black basketball players.’ Me either! Are you kidding me?”
The comedian played on the fact that African-American athletes are formidable opponents when it comes to women's preferences, “Who in the hell wants their woman around black basketball players and I'm specific about black ball players.”
He also made a point out of making the difference between black and white ball players. “I dont care if my womans with (white players) J. J. Redick, Mike Dunleavy, David Lee, but if I see you with Serge Ibaka we gotta talk,” he said, much to the enjoyment of the audience, that kept cheering and applauding.
Apart from ripping on Donald Sterling, the man who quickly rose to the top positions of America's most hated men, Rock also took some shots at other events that rocked the showbiz industry. He talked about Oprah Winfrey's Oscar snub and Jay Z's elevator fight with Beyonce's sister Solange.