Chris Rock refused to pay for lawyer for friend's wrongly accused brother
Chris Rock reveals his regret over not paying for a lawyer for his friend's brother, who was wrongly accused of murder.
Chris Rock has admitted he once refused to pay for a lawyer for a friend's brother who was wrongfully accused of murder.
The 61-year-old actor and comedian has admitted turning down a request for help "still f**** with" him, because he knows how often Black people get wrongly accused of crimes.
He told the New York Times newspaper's The Interview series: "Hey, man, I'm Black. When you're Black, white people believe every accusation is a conviction.
"A guy named Roger Logan, who I grew up with and was one of my best friends’ brothers, went to jail for 19 years for a murder he didn’t commit.
“And here’s the weird thing: His brother used to plead with me to pay for a lawyer for Roger, and I never did it. I always had a no-lawyer thing.”
The comedian noted that while he never minded paying for people's education or mortgage, he was hesitant with lawyers because it's "so open-ended".
He added: "It still f**** with me. I had the means to help him, and I didn’t. I don’t know if we could’ve got him out or not, but still.
"So all that to say, I’m Black, Black men get accused of s*** they didn’t do all the time, every day. We let Black men out of jail and go: ‘Whoops! That Black guy just did 30 years — too bad.’ ”
According to the outlet, Logan reached a $3.75 million settlement with New York City for the wrongful conviction, as well as a $2.975 million settlement with New York State.
Rock noted that while he "hopefully" doesn't get accused of anything, "it's real when people get accused of things, and you better be real sure they did it".
He has been in a police lineup himself "two, three times", recalling his time growing up in the Bed-Stuy neighbour.
He said: "You’re minding your business and you get swooped up. And now you’re in a police lineup.
“And you’ve seen enough cop movies to know that behind that window is a person — could be a man, but probably a woman — and if she points at you, your whole life’s over.”
