14 DAY TRIAL // When is too soon to joke about a terrorist attack? Does such a topic fall under “never too soon enough”? Chris Rock walked on very thin ice on his return to NBC’s Saturday Night Live, which he hosted – starting with the opening monolog, which included jokes about the Boston Marathon and the 9/11 terrorist attacks.
You will find Rock’s opening bit embedded below. The comedian started by saying how happy he was to return to SNL, on whose cast he was a member until 20 years ago, and to New York, where he expected nothing to go wrong with the upcoming marathon.
Making light of 2 bloody attacks on the US
Rock then described the Boston Marathon as the most “sadistic” and cruel event of its type ever because, after being forced to jog for so many miles, runners were advised to run for their lives once they reached the finish line.
It wasn’t sadistic because people lost their lives and hundreds were hurt, it was so because the bombers placed the explosive at the finish line, thus putting the runners through yet another ordeal.
As for the 9/11 events, he laughed that construction now in place of the twin towers should have been named the “Never Going in There” Tower instead of the Freedom Tower, because – obviously! – he would never go in there. He suggested moving the IRS or the DMV there, because that’s the only way Americans would willingly get into the building.
“I'm not joking about 9/11,” he said at one point. “You gotta realize, we are in America, and in America there are no sacred days because we commercialize everything. We're only five years away from 9/11 sales.”
To further prove his point, he explained that Americans made Jesus’ birthday into the biggest commercial event of the year, so there was basically no stopping anyone from commercializing 9/11 or any other similar tragic event of recent years.
Ruffling feathers on social media
As you can imagine, the monolog hit a nerve and thousands took to social media to claim it was the most offensive and tasteless and shameless moment ever on SNL. The outrage continues as we speak, but Rock, on his part, isn’t saying anything to defend himself.
There were also those who argued that, though not particularly funny, the monolog was ok, if only because it stands as proof of another freedom Americans value so much: the freedom of speech. Also in Rock’s defense are those saying that comedy gets a greenlight with topics that should never be tackled in normal conversation. This is one of them.
Check out the bit below and drop us a line afterwards with your thoughts: was Chris Rock tasteless in joking about 2 of the bloodiest terrorist attacks on the US, or are all topics fair game where comedy is concerned?