Add ‘Opportunist’ and ‘Dad of the Year’ to Chris Rock’s already lengthy resume.
The star comedian hosted the 2016 Oscars on Sunday night and used his prominent position on stage to do perhaps one of the most pedestrian of fatherly acts: fundraise for his daughters’ Girl Scout troop. With a captive audience of Hollywood’s über- rich, Rock said, “I want you to reach into your millionaire pockets and I want you to buy some of my daughter’s Girl Scout cookies.”
Rock said that his daughters had complained that they always failed to sell the most cookies in their Girl Scout troop, and he partly blamed himself for missing the all-important cookie-selling season. “Are we going to deny my princesses from cookies?” he asked the audience on Sunday.
He made sure to guilt-trip some of the night’s biggest stars.
“Alright, Tina Fey, get that money, girl. Charlize Theron, yes. Matt Damon, yes. Leo, you made $30 million—come on!” he said.
The bit was one of the biggest hits of the night, and lightened up a ceremony overshadowed by a controversy over the lack of diversity among the award nominees, but the money it generated was no joke.
Rock revealed later in the show that the Oscar audience’s cookie purchases had generated $65,243. Included in that figure was $20 from Vice President Joe Biden, who attended the ceremony to introduce songstress Lady Gaga and deliver remarks about combating sexual assault.
The thousands of dollars raised pleased Girl Scouts chief executive Anna Chávez.
Special thanks to @chrisrock for supporting @girlscouts and making this year's #Oscars the sweetest yet!
— AnnaMChavez.eth (@AnnaMariaChavez) February 29, 2016
The iconic Girl Scout cookies are a big business. In December, the organization revealed that its members sold 194 million boxes of cookies in 2015 worth some $776 million. Even though the group allowed its members to sell cookies online for the first time, the total number of boxes sold in 2015 was down 1 million from the year prior.