AMPAS/ABC

Chris Rock did it right! Balancing social commentary, a bit of finger wagging and lots of sarcastic humor, Rock walked a fine line and walked it perfectly in his opening monologue at tonight's Oscars ceremony.

After the nominations were announced and deemed #OscarsSoWhite, all of Hollywood (and the rest of the world) waiting to see what Rock would do. Would he ditch his hosting gig? Would he tow the line for the Academy? Or would he keep the job and use it as a forum to raise real issues, to start a real discussion and to, we hope, affect change? Fortunately, he did the latter.

No doubt, some jaws dropped, but he had to do it, right? Here are some highlights:

  • Rock said that in previous years, African-Americas didn’t protest the Oscars because they were “too busy being raped and lynched to care about who won Best Cinematographer. When your grandmother’s swinging from a tree, it’s really hard to care about Best Documentary Foreign — Short."

  • “Jada [Pinkett-Smith] boycotting the Oscars is like me boycotting Rihanna’s panties — I wasn’t invited!”

  • Why didn't he quit? “The last thing I need is to lose another job to Kevin Hart!”

  • "Her man Will was not nominated for Concussion. I get it. You get mad. It's not fair that Will was this good and didn't get nominated. You're right. It's also not fair that Will was paid $20 million for Wild Wild West!"

  • "Well, I'm here at the Academy Awards, otherwise known as the White Peoples Choice Awards."

  • "This year, things are going to be a little different at the Oscars. This year in the In Memoriam package, it's just going to be black people who were shot by the cops on their way to the movies."

Chris summarized his message like this: "What I'm trying to say is, it's not about boycotting. We want opportunity. We want the black actors to get the same opportunities as white actors. That's it! Not just once." That's it!