Chris Rock has weighed in on the culture wars with a biblical analogy, warning that modern wokeness operates without mercy.
The comedian, 61, made the comments during a recent appearance on the outlet’s “The Daily” podcast, where he sat down with host David Marchese to discuss his new film and the current social climate. Rock argued that the post-George Floyd era he called “woke 1.0” has calcified into something punitive rather than progressive.
“The problem with wokeness is we’re in the Old Testament right now,” he said. “And the Old Testament has no forgiveness. The Old Testament didn’t work. So they had to write a remix called the New Testament.”
Marchese pressed Rock on whether anything redeeming emerged from that period, noting that Democratic politicians now appear to be distancing themselves from the ideology. Rock maintained that helping marginalized people remains worthwhile, but cautioned against formalizing the impulse.
“It’s great to help those that need help,” he continued. “But when you institutionalize it,” the dynamic shifts toward persecution. He likened the machinery of cancellation to colonial-era hysteria: “The Salem witch hunts. I’m sure the first three witches they caught were actually f–king witches. But then you open up a witch office and now you’ve got to start lying. Now you’ve gotta f–king make s–t up because you’ve got overhead. You’ve got to justify the witch hunters f–king pensions and s–t.”
Rock clarified that his call for forgiveness does not extend to excusing harm. “It doesn’t mean condoning abusive behavior. You can reprimand your friends,” he said. “If you’re only friends with your friends when they’re good, they’re not your friends,” He added that accountability remains “also part of friendship.”
The Brooklyn-born comic struck a measured tone overall, conceding that the movement had accomplished some genuine good. He said he is “glad that all of this stuff happened,” since it amplified voices that had previously gone unheard.
Kaivan Shroff, a former Hillary Clinton campaign staffer, pushed back against Rock’s framing in remarks to Fox News Digital. “Chris Rock is oversimplifying this in a way that is pretty self-serving,” Shroff said. “Sometimes the problem is not that people ‘took a joke out of context.’ Often the context is perfectly clear and the comedian knows exactly who the joke is aimed at, knows a lot of people will find it offensive, and is counting on that discomfort to make the material feel edgy or viral,” He added: “You don’t get to use outrage as part of the act and then act shocked when the outrage follows.”
Rock’s podcast appearance came as he promotes “Misty Green,” a film he wrote, directed, and stars in. The movie centers on an award-winning actress attempting to revive her career after years of decline, with Rock playing a casting director who previously worked with her.
The project grew partly from Rock’s preoccupation with professional shelf lives. “I’m really into expiration dates. I have a lot of friends who are in their 50s or whatever and there’s this thing everybody tells you, ‘You can do art forever.’ And that’s just not true,” he said. He noted that entertainment demands certain achievements by specific ages, adding: “So yeah, Misty is turning 40 and there’s a little bit of an expiration date happening here. I wanted to do a movie about Hollywood. I wanted to do a movie about the expiration dates we all have.”
Los Angeles itself serves as a secondary subject. Rock described the city as a “tale of two cities,” where “sunshine and palm trees” coexist with residents “constantly walking over homeless people.” He previously said in September that the film explores a “complicated place” that “attracts an underbelly that people want to pretend doesn’t exist.” He pointed to a specific image that crystallized his theme: “There’s a real estate office on the same street as The Ivy on Robertson, and in the window, there are houses for $30-$40 million. In the window. But there’s a homeless guy sleeping right outside. The movie is about that crazy dichotomy.”
Rock’s remarks on wokeness arrive as he continues his promotional circuit for “Misty Green.”