Oscar Awards Host Chris Rock Responds to 'Gays' Comment; Best Actor Nominee Don Cheadle Says He Won't Win

Rock, Cheadle Shed Their Insights on
Upcoming Oscars During Tom Joyner Morning Show

DALLAS, Feb. 25, 2005 /PRNewswire/

Comedian Chris Rock, host of the 77th Academy Awards ceremony on Sunday, today told nationally syndicated radio personality Tom Joyner that he's going to 'shock' viewers on Sunday night.

"Just the fact that I'm there is going to be a shock," said Rock, who raised eyebrows when he recently said that he did not know any straight men that watched the Oscars. "When the show starts and a brother says, 'What's up? Welcome to the Oscars.' That's it."

During the "Tom Joyner Morning Show," the nation's leading entertainment syndicated morning radio show; Joyner interviewed Rock, "Hotel Rwanda" star and best actor nominee Don Cheadle and actor/playwright Tyler Perry about his movie release, "Diary of a Mad Black Woman."

Rock clarified his previous comments saying about gays not watching the Oscars, saying: "Seriously, I don't remember my father, the guys on the block

-- We just never watched the Oscars ... You tuned in a little bit, but it wasn't the thing I did growing up."

Responding to a question about the noticeable number of African Americans nominated this year, Rock labeled this year's Oscars the "Def Oscar Jam".

In another interview, and Best-Actor nominee Don Cheadle predicted that Jamie Foxx, who played the title character in the movie "Ray," will win the Oscar in that category. "I don't think there's any question," said Cheadle, whose next movie that he both produced and stars, "Crash," is scheduled to be released in May. "I think he's very deserving and I'd be the first to congratulate him ... Our movie is like the little engine that could."

Source: Reach Media