Chris Rock holds strong opinions on the Tea Party. After calling the conservative group racist in a 2011 interview, the politically minded stand-up comedian and actor reacted angrily when confronted about his remarks by a conservative writer at the Sundance Film Festival in January.
Attending the festival in support of his film, “2 Days In New York,” Rock was approached with a video camera by Jason Mattera on Jan. 23.
Mattera, a New York radio talk show host and author of “Hollywood Hypocrites: The Devastating Truth About Obama’s Biggest Backers,” and “Obama Zombies,” greeted the comic by saying he was a "big fan" and asked the comedian to pose for his camera, to which Rock agreed.
Then Mattera got political.
“When you said the Tea Party was insane and racist--” he begins, before getting cut off by Rock. He then attempts the question again, but this time the comic charges back at the camera, wrestling it to the ground.
Mattera was apparently referring to an interview with Rock in the March 2011 edition of Esquire magazine. Discussing the impact of President Obama’s election, the actor says, “When I see the Tea Party and all this stuff, it actually feels like racism's almost over. Because this is the last — this is the act up before the sleep. They're going crazy. They're insane. You want to get rid of them — and the next thing you know, they're f---ing knocked out. And that's what's going on in the country right now.”
Although the incident happened in January, Mattera just uploaded the video to YouTube last week, perhaps timed to the release of his latest book. His website features an entire section titled "Ambush Videos."
TMZ.com reports that Rock's attorney is reviewing the video.
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