People weren’t feeling Chris’ latest joke.
Chris Rock is one of the biggest comedians in the world and sometimes, his jokes offend people even if he doesn’t mean to. Whether it can be chalked up to changing standards of comedy or the hypersensitivity of today’s climate, it seems as though more and more people are being offended by certain things. This concept was on full display this weekend when Rock posted a meme to his Instagram account that featured Whitney Houston. The caption on the meme read “Me sitting in a meeting that could have been an e-mail:.” In the photo, Houston is wearing sunglasses to hide her face. Rock then captioned the photo himself saying “Hurry up I got crack to smoke.”
Houston fans were upset over the meme and let Rock know about their displeasure.
Wow, I’m disgusted! This not even funny one bit. Chris Rock you’re one of the Biggest coon in the industry, so I don’t know why I’m surprised. You’re corny ash for this. Rest in Paradise Ms. Whitney Houston 💙🕊👸🏾 pic.twitter.com/edh4mBkPdP
— teee.bee特里🕷🧜🏾♂️ (@TerreB1999) April 27, 2019
Some of the comments ranged from outraged to sheer disappointment. “Tasteless and cheap joke. You should know better,” one commenter wrote. “This is how you speak on the dead? Make better content,” another said.
Rock’s post has since been deleted, although it’s interesting to note that some of his famous friends such as Nia Long and Octavia Spencer replied to the post in a positive manner, even laughing along with Rock.
Chris Rock really got his ass on IG & made a crack joke about Whitney Houston under a meme that used her face for women’s empowerment….when are we gonna learn that these rich Black men are just white men with melanin. Chris rock made his career punching down at HIS community.
— Fandango (@ItsJustLeya) April 28, 2019
I saw you laughing at that Whitney Houston post on Chris Rock’s instagram. @octaviaspencer you have a lot of nerve you lazy eye bitch.
— DIOMI (@diomicordero) April 28, 2019
I was already disappointed in Chris Rock (who I've known for years) for finding humor in Louis C.K. & Ricky Gervais' use of the N-word. Now he's making fun of my dearly departed friend, Whitney Houston, on IG. Addiction is NOT a laughing matter. #PoorTaste #Disrespectful #GrowUp
— Elgin Charles (@ElginCharles) April 28, 2019
Houston’s ex husband Bobby Brown also stepped in under the since-deleted post.
In response, an incensed Bobby slid in the Everybody Hates Chris creator’s comments, shaming him for disrespecting the 6-time Grammy Award winner’s legacy.
“During this time of women empowerment you chose to use your time to try and humiliate our QUEEN!!!,” Bobby wrote, adding, “I thought you was a friend of the family.”
Whitney—who died of drowning, effects of atherosclerotic heart disease, and cocaine use in the bathtub of the Beverley Hills Hilton Hotel during Grammys Weekend in February 2012—infamously denied a crack addition for during a 2002 interview with Diane Sawyer.
“I make too much money to ever smoke,” she said during the new ABC News sit-down. “Let’s get that straight, k? We don’t do crack. We don’t do that. Crack is wack.”
So far, Chris Rock has yet to issue a public apology to Bobby Brown and/or Whitney Houston’s family and fans.
