Chris Rock has joked that arresting former US President Donald Trump would strengthen his social status.
While on stage at a Sunday (19 March) event honouring Adam Sandler with the Mark Twain Prize for American Humour, Rock took a moment to crack a few gags about the ongoing political drama in the US.
“Are you really going to arrest Trump?” the comedian asked – per multiple US media reports – before joking that doing so is “like arresting Tupac. He’s just going to sell more records.”
Rock then suggested that indicting and apprehending the former president “is only going to make him more popular”, according to The Guardian’s David Smith.
Trump is currently facing several legal investigations into his conduct before and during his presidency, including his alleged use of campaign finances to pay for an adult film star’s silence, with whom he allegedly had an affair. Trump has denied the accusations and said he “never had an affair with [Stormy Daniels]”.
“We’ve all been cheated on,” Rock later quipped. “Don’t you wish that the person that cheated on you paid off somebody so you wouldn’t find out?”
Rock’s earlier reference to the late rapper Tupac was likely in regard to the skyrocketing sales of his 1995 album Me Against the World, which he released while serving an eight-month prison sentence on a sexual assault charge that was later appealed.
Elsewhere in his speech, Rock revealed a brutal Will Smith Oscars joke that didn’t make the final cut into his recent Netflix special Selective Outrage.
The comedian was among several other comics, actors and filmmakers to speak in Sandler’s honour. Others, included Jennifer Aniston, Drew Barrymore, Steve Buscemi, Luis Guzmán, Conan O’Brien and David Spade.
Their full remarks will air nationally on Sunday 26 March at 8pm EST on CNN.
Follow along here for live updates on Trump’s possible indictments.
