Chris Rock proved a generally tasteless and unamusing host of the ceremony. He began by taking a few shots at George W. Bush. He noted that the US president had been “reapplying for his job” during the recent election. “That’s got to be tough when [Michael Moore’s] Fahrenheit 9/11 is playing in the theaters. Can you imagine reapplying for your job when there’s a movie out showing all the ways you suck at your job?” Rock went on: “Bush did some things you could never get away with at your job, man. When he came into office we had a budget surplus, and now we have a trillion dollar deficit.... Just imagine if you worked at the Gap. You’re $70 trillion behind on your register and then you start a war with Banana Republic because you say they’ve got toxic tank tops over there. You have the war, people are dying, a thousand Gap employees are dead, bleeding all over the khakis, you finally take over Banana Republic, and you find out they never made tank tops in the first place.” Undercutting his own essentially unserious jibes, or perhaps underlining their unseriousness, Rock proceeded to send greetings to American troops “fighting for freedom” all over the world. How can US forces be pursuing such an aim when the reasons for going to war, as Rock acknowledges, have proven to be a pack of lies? Other than that, Rock distinguished himself by mean-spirited and pointless comments about a group of actors he characterized as less than “stars” and crude remarks about two female presenters. On the whole, a miserable performance.