Driving While Black: Chris Rock Takes a Selfie Each Time Cops Pull Him Over
For the last seven weeks, the comedian has been publicly documenting his police stops to highlight racial profiling.
Comedian Chris Rock. (David Shankbone / CC BY-SA 3.0)
Chris Rock took a selfie after being pulled over by police while driving Monday, documenting the third time in seven weeks he’s been stopped.
The comedian posted the photo to his social media accounts with the caption: “Stopped by the cops again wish me luck.” The photograph shows him in the driver’s seat; what appear to be police lights are visible through the rear window.
His Instagram account reveals that Rock has had three car-related run-ins with police recently, on Feb. 13, Feb. 27 and Monday. Where the photos were taken is unclear. Monday’s photo is above, and below are two posts from February.
According to the Huffington Post:
Last year, Rock joked about cop stops while filming “Comedians In Cars Getting Coffee” with Jerry Seinfeld. The two were pulled over by a Ramsey, New Jersey, police officer while on their way to Rock’s neighborhood of Alpine. Seinfeld was driving an orange 1969 Lamborghini Miura P400S at the time.
It’d be such a better episode if he pulled me to the side and beats the s**t out of me, don’t you think?” Rock joked. “Now here’s the crazy thing: If you weren’t here, I’d be scared. I’m famous, still black. Right now, I’m looking for my license right now.” After the stop, he added, laughing: “I was worried the whole time. I’m still worried.”
The 50-year-old has tackled the issue of police relations in bits like “How To Not Get Your Ass Kicked By The Police” and in his stand-up.
“You keep notes. You look for the recurring,” he told Vulture in December about how he crafts his stand-up routines. “What’s not going away? Boy, this police-brutality thing — it seems to be lingering. What’s going to happen here? You don’t even have the joke, you just say, ‘Okay, what’s the new angle that makes me not sound like a preacher?’ Forget being a comedian, just act like a reporter. What’s the question that hasn’t been asked? How come white kids don’t get shot? Have you ever watched television and seen some white kid get shot by accident?”
–Posted by Roisin Davis
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