Chris Rock on race, NY grand jury decision

Actor/director Chris Rock attends the premiere of “Top Five” at the Ziegfeld Theatre on Wednesday, Dec. 3, 2014, in New York. (Photo by Evan Agostini/Invision/AP)

NEW YORK — At the premiere of his new film, “Top Five,” Chris Rock talked about his recent essay about race in Hollywood.

The 49-year-old star doesn’t see the essay as a courageous act; rather that he was stating the facts about being black in the entertainment industry.

In the essay in The Hollywood Reporter, Rock questions how a “liberal town” like Hollywood is also “kind of racist” when it comes to hiring practices and diversity. He called Hollywood “a white industry. Just as the NBA is a black industry.”

Rock told The Associated Press on Wednesday night he was merely speaking from the heart.

“I don’t look at it as even being political. I’m just stating the facts. I’m not trying to be political at all, that’s (Jon) Stewart, that’s (Bill) Maher, that’s, you know, not me,” Rock said.

Rock also reacted to Wednesday’s grand jury decision in New York not to indict a white police officer in the chokehold death of a black Staten Island man last summer. That altercation was captured on video with the suspect screaming, “I can’t breathe.”

“It’s sad when something is on videotape. It’s sad,” Rock said.

“Law and Order: SVU” star Ice-T was more forthcoming.

“My stomach is twisted over this thing. We all kind of witnessed a snuff film on television when you saw that video. And when you come back and say no crime has been committed, it’s hard for people to swallow,” he said.