Dear Gossips,

As mentioned yesterday, Chris Rock isn’t talking until he takes the stage on Sunday as the host of the Oscars. But he did step out for the Essence Black Women in Hollywood event. It’s an important event to support, obviously, and also, this is a point he’s making, non? He has a big job ahead, in just 2 days. And this is how he’s choosing to spend his time. At this particular party.

Interestingly enough, around midnight, he also posted this on Twitter:


Don’t know what that means. Could mean so many things. But I’m excited. I’m SO excited about this monologue.

I’m in LA with the etalk Oscar team. On Sunday I’m joining Danielle Graham live from our exclusive balcony position over the red carpet. There are only two balcony spots – one of them is for the official US broadcaster and the other is for us. It’s the best vantage point, right before they go inside the theatre. Our show goes live aross Canada at 6:30pm ET, 3pm PT/4pm MT/5:30pm CT/7pm AT) and leads into the Oscar broadcast. I’ll also be live-tweeting through it all. My Twitter handle is @laineygossip.

And then Duana and I will start writing. It’ll be an all-nighter for us, per our Oscar tradition. And we’re anticipating over 50 posts for complete Oscar coverage. Please join us!

Have a great weekend!

Yours in gossip,

Lainey