“Stopped by the cops again wish me luck.”
That’s the message Chris Rock paired with a selfie on Monday, capturing what is apparently the third time in just seven weeks the comedian has been pulled over by police. It’s not known why police stopped Rock during these three separate incidents, but the succinct caption alone sums up what’s clearly a routine event for him as a black man in America driving what we can assume is a nice car.
Rock has long been a vocal critic of racial profiling. In a December interview with New York magazine, Rock talked candidly about the everyday racism he encounters with his family, despite being one of the most well-known and respected comedians in the country. “I mean, I almost cry every day,” he told Frank Rich. “I drop my kids off and watch them in the school with all these mostly white kids, and I got to tell you, I drill them every day: Did anything happen today? Did anybody say anything? They look at me like I am crazy.”
In 2013, while filming an episode of Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee, Rock and Jerry Seinfeld were pulled over by New Jersey police for speeding. “It would be such a better episode if he pulls me to the side and beats the shit out of me,” Rock jokingly tells Seinfeld. “If you weren’t here, I’d be scared. Yeah, I’m famous—still black.”
