Former "Saturday Night Live" star Chris Rock made an appearance on the sketch comedy show on November 1, and some of the jokes he delivered raised some eyebrows.
During his opening monologue, he made light of the Boston Marathon bombings, the Freedom Tower, Christmas, and other subjects, and one of his sketches that night parodied the Islamic State (IS).
Rock began by pointing out that the live show fell between Halloween and the New York Marathon. "What could go wrong there?" he asked. The comedian then called the Boston Marathon bombings horrific for targeting racers at the finish line of a 26-mile marathon.
"That was probably the most frightening, sadistic terrorist attack ever!" he said. "Twenty-six miles! Twenty-six miles is a long DRIVE. If you call up one of your friends...'Hey man, I need you to pick me up' 'Where you at?' 'About 26 miles away.' 'Then you better get Uber!'"
He also criticised rampant commercialism in America by contrasting the Bible's portrayal of Jesus to the Christmas holiday.
"Christmas is Jesus' birthday," Rock began. "Now, I don't know Jesus, but from what I've read, Jesus is the least materialistic person to ever roam the Earth. No bling on Jesus! Jesus kept a low profile, and we turned his birthday into one of the most materialistic day of the year.
"Matter of fact we have the Jesus Birthday Season... 'We had a horrible Jesus' birthday this year, hopefully business will pick up by his crucifixion.'"
Rock's IS sketch was framed as an episode of hit reality competition "Shark Tank." On the show, entrepreneurs pitch their products and ideas to a panel of venture capitalists for potential investment. During the "SNL" sketch, Rock and comedian Kyle Mooney portrayed IS terrorists seeking $400 million for a one percent stake in their "new kingdom."
"We started with a simple question: How do you rid the world of the Western pig and the vile Jew?" Mooney began.
"Now, just a few years later, our small, hateful, perversion of Islam has grown into a multi-national brand," Rock continued.
While IS nearly secured investment due to their financial resources and land holdings, it was ultimately their sinister ideologies that caused the sharks to pass.
Twitter was split on Saturday, with some users finding Rock's jokes hilarious, and others taking offense.
"Chris Rock with the most offensive SNL monologue of all time. #Congrats," one man wrote.
"As a friend of many 9/11 families, I honestly don't think that Chris Rock said anything offensive about 9/11 or the victims on SNL," another said.
Neither Chris Rock nor NBC have responded to claims that Rock went too far during his "SNL" appearance.
