Chris Rock slams Democrats for focusing on impeachment as coronavirus began to spread to the US

Comedian Chris Rock hit out at Democrats for being so focused on impeaching President Trump earlier this year that they allowed the coronavirus pandemic to hit the United States. 

In a lengthy interview with the New York Times published Wednesday, Rock compared Trump to a ‘five-year-old’ as he discussed the country’s summer of unrest. 

The 55-year-old actor blasted Pelosi as he claimed ‘it’s all the Democrats’ fault’ and accused both political parties of ‘fake news’.  

While speaking about a discussion with fellow comedian Dave Chapelle at live shows he held in July, Rock claimed that he had a problem with Trump as the country had elected a ‘landlord’. 

‘Part of the reason we’re in the predicament we’re in is, the president’s a landlord. No one has less compassion for humans than a landlord,’ he joked. 

Rock continued to compare the current White House administration to the 1987 movie ‘The Last Emperor’ in which a child was the ruler of China, adding that the US was now like that with a childlike ruler.  

‘So I’m like, it’s all the Democrats’ fault. Because you knew that the emperor was 5 years old. And when the emperor’s 5 years old, they only lead in theory,’ Rock said. 

‘There’s usually an adult who’s like, “OK, this is what we’re really going to do.”’

He continued with his blame of the Democrats for not catching the start of the pandemic.   

The impeachment trial had engulfed much of the news in the early weeks of this year as the first coronavirus cases hit the US. 

‘And it was totally up to Pelosi and the Democrats. Their thing was, “We’re going to get him impeached,” which was never going to happen,’ he said. 

‘You let the pandemic come in. Yes, we can blame Trump, but he’s really the 5-year-old. 

‘Put it this way: Republicans tell outright lies. Democrats leave out key pieces of the truth that would lead to a more nuanced argument. In a sense, it’s all fake news,’ he added. 

Rock later spoke about his previous comments on police brutality against black people and about how he feels he is raising children in a ‘racist country’. 

‘I remember when “Tamborine” dropped, I got a lot of flak over that cop thing,’ he said of his 2018 Netflix special. 

‘There was a lot of people trying to start a fire that never really picked up. It’s so weird that, two years later, it’s right on. I remember watching the news and Trump said “bad apples.” It was like, you did it! You did it!’

He continued to describe this year’s turmoil following the deaths of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor as the ‘second civil rights movement’. 

‘And Dr. King and those guys were amazing. But they knew nothing about money. They didn’t ask for anything. At the end of the day, the things we got — it was just, hey, can you guys be humane? All we got was, like, humanity,’ he continued. 

‘If they had it to do all over again, in hindsight, there would be some attention paid to the financial disparity of all the years of — let’s not even count slavery, let’s just count Jim Crow.’

Later in the interview, Rock said that he didn’t think Jimmy Fallon was trying to be hurtful when he impersonated the comedian while in blackface back in 2000 on Saturday Night Live.

He defended Fallon, 45, calling the late night host a good friend and ‘great guy’ who would never aim to offend.

‘Hey, man, I’m friends with Jimmy. Jimmy’s a great guy. And he didn’t mean anything,’ Rock told the paper. 

‘A lot of people want to say intention doesn’t matter, but it does. And I don’t think Jimmy Fallon intended to hurt me. And he didn’t.’

Earlier in summer a 2000 SNL sketch where Jimmy imitated Rock in blackface resurfaced online, prompting #JimmyFallonIsOver to trend of Twitter and earn massive attention from the media.

Other celebrities like Jimmy Kimmel, Sarah Silverman, Robert Downey Jr., and Ted Danson were called out over using blackface around the same time.

Fallon apologized on social media at the end of May, tweeting: ‘In 2000, while on SNL, I made a terrible decision to do an impersonation of Chris Rock while in blackface. There is no excuse for this.’ 

While Chris deemed Jimmy’s actions harmless, Rock was not condoning blackface in the slightest.

Asked if he thought the idea of removing past instances of blackface in media was being taken ‘too far,’ Chris dismissed the idea of even having to condemn something so obviously wrong.

‘If I say they are [taking it too far,] then I’m the worst guy in the world,’ he replied. ‘There’s literally one answer that ends my whole career.’

‘Blackface ain’t cool, OK? That’s my quote. Blackface is bad. Who needs it? It’s so sad, we live in a world now where you have to say, I am so against cancer. 

‘”I just assumed you liked cancer.” No, no, no, I am so against it. You have to state so many obvious things you’re against.’ 

At another point in the interview he said that racism in America ‘is real. It’s not going away.’

‘I said this before, but Obama becoming the president, it’s progress for white people. It’s not progress for Black people.’