Chris Rock—2016 Oscars Segment Baldwin Hills Crenshaw

Table of Contents The Daily Beast: Chris Rock Faked His Compton Oscars Bit, Shot It Far From the Birthplace of N.W.A .. 1 San Jose Mercury News: Chris Rock faked location of Oscars Compton bit, report says ...... 6 LA Times: Where was Oscar host Chris Rock's 'Compton' movie theater? Not in Compton...... 8 The Huffington Post: Chris Rock's Girl Scout Moment Wasn't A Big Lie After All (UPDATE) ...... 9

The Daily Beast: Chris Rock Faked His Compton Oscars Bit, Shot It Far From the Birthplace of N.W.A Jen Yamato 2/29/16

Rock aired a sketch during the Academy Awards interviewing moviegoers in ‘Compton’—but Compton has no movie theater, and Rock shot near the ‘black Beverly Hills.’

LOS ANGELES — Oscars host Chris Rock earned some of his biggest kudos on Sunday for journeying all the way from Hollywood to a Compton movie theater to interview black moviegoers about this year’s #OscarsSoWhite nominees.

But Rock wasn’t in Compton. He filmed the interviews much closer to Hollywood, seven miles from the Dolby Theater, in another predominantly African-American neighborhood in southwest L.A. that’s much closer than Compton and a lot more developed.

So while most didn’t realize it, Oscar viewers didn’t meet the colorful moviegoers of Compton, which is farther east and has no movie theater of its own. They met the moviegoers of Crenshaw/Baldwin Hills— a neighborhood bordered by a predominantly black neighborhood known as “the black Beverly Hills.”

The joke’s premise was that the Academy Awards was so white that the average African-American theater patron in Compton had no vested interest or awareness of this year’s movies. You know, Compton—the South Central neighborhood white folks surely heard of this year thanks to N.W.A and Universal’s hit (but still snubbed in most categories) biopic Straight Outta Compton.

The bit went viral and earned Rock praise for playing a part in helping him really give it to Hollywood and the well-heeled crowd in attendance—at least, as much as he dared to. “For Better Or Worse, Chris Rock Made The Oscars As Black As He Possibly Could,” crowed one headline that counted the movie theater segment, Rock’s just barely squeeze-in #BlackLivesMatter shoutout, those Suge Knight gags, and his black Girl Scouts-selling-cookies-to-celebs shenanigans as ways in which the comedian fought the powers that be.

Rock even posted an extended version of the bit to his Twitter packed with even more gags of unsuspecting “Compton” moviegoers not knowing anything about this year’s Oscars, like who and what

2 the hell Cate Blanchett, Meryl Streep, Bridge Of Spies, Joy, andTrumbo were—but to be fair, most of America still doesn’t know what Trumbo is.

Granted, the distinction between Baldwin Hills and Compton won’t mean much to most non-Angelenos, although the extension of the Metro line and plans to build out an upscale shopping corridor and turn it into the “next Glendale Americana” has locals expecting economic growth and, inevitably, gentrification.

But using one non-white neighborhood to stand in for another for the sake of a joke about the sharp socioeconomic and cultural divide within a major American city falls pretty much in line with Sunday’s Oscars telecast and its halfhearted, half-assed attempt to hold the establishment accountable for its diversity problem.

(I hear you, Hispanic and Latino and Native American and LGBT and every other kind of Oscar watchers who didn’t see yourselves repped onscreen at what one Oscars show producer promised would be the “most diverse Oscars ever.” I see you, little Asian child actor who tried desperately to hit your mark even when Rock was done using you as a prop for a joke.)

Only keen-eyed viewers seemed to notice that Rock was standing outside the Rave Cinemas Baldwin Hills 15, a well-trafficked Cinemark chain outpost that anchors a sprawling shopping mall at the corner of Crenshaw and Martin Luther King, Jr. Last month, the same theater hosted the annual Pan-African Film Festival. Two weeks ago, the stars of WGN’s upcoming drama Underground made a promo appearance at the adjoining mall.

A mall employee confirmed to The Daily Beast Monday that Rock and his crew had set up outside the Rave 15 last week around dusk, but said he had no idea what they were filming or that it ended up broadcast to 34.3 million on Oscars Sunday: “I didn’t watch it,” he shrugged.

I’m told the shoot had been cleared with mall management, but it’s unclear if they were aware the segment would deliberately misrepresent the location as Compton. A representative on behalf of Baldwin Hills Crenshaw released the following statement to The Daily Beast (bold is theirs):

“We were happy to host Chris Rock at Baldwin Hills Crenshaw for the taping of a segment that was broadcast at the Oscars. We would welcome the chance to host him again and better acquaint him with the Crenshaw corridor, located in the City of Los Angeles.”

Around the mall on Monday, few had actually watched the Oscars. Some deliberately did not. “I was boycotting—sorry!” said one woman.

I met Marvin R. Williams and Anthony Stephens, both African-American men, sitting on a bench in the sunshine outside the Rave 15. Neither had tuned in on Sunday. Williams caught part of Rock’s monologue later. Stephens said he purposefully did not watch the Oscars, in solidarity with the #OscarsSoWhite boycott. “I don’t watch anything all white,” he said. “I just couldn’t.”

Williams, who turned out to be a knowledgeable movie buff given to rattling off historic Oscar trivia, firmly called out the Oscars: “The Academy is racist.”

“I think the Academy is very political, aside from it being very racist,” said Williams. “I’m sure many of those whites consider themselves liberal. But if they’re so liberal… why was the movie The Butler, which was an excellent film and dealt with the civil rights movement and African Americans, not nominated— for anything?”

“Make no mistake about it, when black people are saying ‘black people,’ we mean people of color,” he said. “If you’re not white, it includes you! And don’t get me wrong, there has been some progress made. Some. But there’s not enough diversity as there should be in this part of the 21st century. Hattie McDaniel in 1940 broke the glass ceiling when she won, and was the first woman of color to win for Gone with the Wind.”

Williams paused. “They really couldn’t have me on television,” he roared, laughing. “Chris Rock doesn’t come close to my position! I would have said, ‘ALL of you are racist. Every white person in here is racist, I don’t care how liberal you think you are.’ The difference is they all don’t choose to be extreme in their racism. It’s deeply rooted in the psyche.”

“I wonder why Will Smith didn’t get nominated,” Stephens volunteered. Williams concurred, lamenting the lack of Oscar recognition for Concussion, which he thought was “excellent.” Smith would probably agree.

Neither men had caught up with Rock’s Compton movie theater bit, so I pulled it up on my phone to show them. They began watching the Oscars segment, smiling at the sight of Rock, microphone in hand, standing in front of the façade of the very theater where they were sitting.

Williams did a double take. “Did he say that was in Compton?”

Still, they cracked up at every line Rock delivered. Afterward both men forgave Rock for his Compton bait-and-switch, because, well, he’s Chris Rock. “That’s OK,” Williams said. “Chris could have said either Compton, or South Central. I understand why he did it.”

Stephens, nevertheless, had no regrets about missing the Oscars. He hopes next year the Academy Awards finds films to honor that reflect an audience that he feels includes him. Maybe then he’ll tune in.

“I’m important, too,” he said. “I’m a human being. That’s all it is.”

San Jose Mercury News: Chris Rock faked location of Oscars Compton bit, report says Martha Ross 3/01/16 To prove an #OscarsSoWhite-themed point about the racial divide in film tastes, Academy Awards host Chris Rock presented a video of himself interviewing black moviegoers at a theater he said was in Compton. For the segment, one of the most lauded moments during Sunday night's 88th Annual Academy Awards ceremony, Rock said he journeyed "as far away" as he could to Compton, to his "favorite" movie theater there. But the thing is, Rock and his video crew weren't in Compton, the Daily Beast reports. They were in Crenshaw-Baldwin Hills, another predominantly African-American neighborhood in Los Angeles that is much closer to Hollywood than Compton.

Actor Chris Rock presents on stage at the 88th Oscars on February 28, 2016 in Hollywood, California. AFP PHOTO / MARK RALSTONMARK RALSTON/AFP/Getty Images ( MARK RALSTON ) The premise of the segment, which earned huge laughs and went viral, is that the average African- American theater patron in Compton has no interest or awareness in any of this year's most nominated films, including Best Picture winner "Spotlight," or other Best Picture nominees "Brooklyn" or "Trumbo." Compton is the South Central neighborhood that became notorious in the 1980s for gang violence and for being home to gangsta rappers like NWA. Compton is much further south from Hollywood than Baldwin Hills. But as the Los Angeles Times noted, Compton doesn't have a movie theater within its city limits, and it hasn't in decades. As the segment aired, viewers noticed that Rock was standing outside the Rave Cinemas Baldwin Hills 15, a chain theater that's in a mall near a more gentrified neighborhood known as "the black Beverly Hills." A mall employee confirmed to The Daily Beast Monday that Rock and his crew had set up outside the Rave 15 last week around dusk. The website was told that the shoot had been cleared by mall management, though they may not have been told that the segment would deliberately misrepresent the location as Compton. In a statement

6 from Baldwin Hills Crenshaw, the mall where the theater is located, a representative referred to the theater as being in "the city of Los Angeles": "We were happy to host Chris Rock at Baldwin Hills Crenshaw for the taping of a segment that was broadcast at the Oscars," the statement read. "We would welcome the chance to host him again and better acquaint him with the Crenshaw corridor, located in the City of Los Angeles." Martha Ross provides celebrity commentary for the Bay Area News Group. Follow her attwitter.com/marthajross.

LA Times: Where was Oscar host Chris Rock's 'Compton' movie theater? Not in Compton Ryan Faughnder 2/29/16 During a comedy bit at the 88th Academy Awards Sunday night,Chris Rock said he trekked to a Compton movie theater to interview black moviegoers about largely white Oscar contenders.

The resulting segment got big laughs as Rock asked cinema fans if they had seen, or even heard of, movies like "The Big Short," "Brooklyn" and "Bridge of Spies."

But there was one problem with the routine — that theater isn't in Compton. Rock's video, filmed about a week before the ceremony, actually took place in front of the Rave Cinema 15 (formerly Magic Johnson Theatres) at Baldwin Hills Crenshaw Plaza.

In fact, as the Los Angeles Times has reported, Compton doesn't even have a movie theater within its city limits, and it hasn't in decades.

That fact resurfaced last year during the release of "Straight Outta Compton," Universal Pictures' hit film about the members of the groundbreaking gangsta rap group N.W.A. Though the movie grossed $200 million globally, it couldn't be shown in the rappers' hometown.

Compton could get its own theater soon. City officials have proposed the construction of a 14-screen, 60,000-square-foot movie theater as part of a larger entertainment complex for the area historically neglected by the film industry.

Los Angeles-based Maya Cinemas, which specializes in theaters in predominantly Latino communities, would finance, build and operate the multiplex. Compton's City Council voted this month to move forward on the development.

For now though, Compton residents still have to venture to Baldwin Hills or Paramount to see the latest theatrical releases.

The Rave Cinema, once known as the Magic Johnson Crenshaw 15, has its own noteworthy history.

Earvin "Magic" Johnson's cinema venture Magic Johnson Theatres became a Baldwin Hills business success story in the mid-1990s for the former Lakers star, who had advocated for more entertainment options in largely black communities.

But Johnson sold his theater company in 2004, and the Magic Johnson Crenshaw 15 multiplex closed in 2010. It was renovated and reopened the following year by theater operator Rave Motion Pictures, now owned by Plano, Texas, cinema chain Cinemark.

Producers of the Oscars telecast were not immediately available for comment.

Follow Ryan Faughnder on Twitter for more entertainment business coverage: @rfaughnder

The Huffington Post: Chris Rock's Girl Scout Moment Wasn't A Big Lie After All (UPDATE) Bill Bradley 3/1/16 According to The Daily Beast, Rock's trip to visit Compton moviegoers was also a lie, mostly because Compton has no movie theaters. Rock supposedly met people from the Crenshaw/Baldwin Hills area.