Oscar host Chris Rock opens up about being black in America

Comedy star Chris Rock is all set to host this year's Oscars that are hit by outrage over the nominees' lack of diversity, but even before it all started he opened up about being a "black" in the US.

The 50-year-old actor said he admires Janay Palmer, the wife of disgraced NFL pro Ray Rice, who was punched unconscious by her husband in a hotel elevator, which probably feels same like being in America with 'the' skin colour, reported People magazine.

"Mrs Ray Rice it's not the punch in the face that eats your soul; it's having to defend the person that punched you in the face that eats. Oddly enough, this is what it feels like to be a black man in America," Rock said.

The comedian said just the thought that "Barack Obama just think he could be President is gangster." Rock also spoke about his family and said that he considers his parents his real-life heroes.

"I had such a horrible school experience (bussed, one of the only black kids (sic) every day, bullied, etc. That picking my kids up from their mostly white school, where they're having such a great time. It's almost like I'm picking them up from another planet, and I am," he said.