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Confusing Two Black Actors May Be Ignorant — But Is It Racist?

Recently, Kevin Hart was approached by a woman who wanted to take a selfie with him. The comedian obliged, but quickly realized that she thought he was someone else entirely: Chris Rock.

These are the moments that keep me Humble ?????..... #RockTheWorld #AllYouCanDoIsLaugh

A video posted by Kevin Hart (@kevinhart4real) on

The unnamed woman referred to him as Rock during their brief encounter, and Hart egged her on, telling her that she should come see his made-up comedy show, Rock the World. "These r the moments that I love," Hart shared via Snapchat. "She really thinks that I’m 'Chris Rock.'" On Instagram, he added, "These are the moments that keep me Humble," along with the hashtags #RockTheWorld and #AllYouCanDoIsLaugh. Hart may have had a sense of humor about the mix-up. But the internet hasn't been quite so understanding. His followers posted literally thousand of comments, weighing in on the racism implicit to the woman's mistake. "Some white ppl think all black comedians are Chris Rock," one wrote; another pointed out that the whole thing fell into the "'all black people look alike' category." Obviously, this woman messed up — big time. Kevin Hart is a successful movie star with seven movies under his belt from the last two years alone; Chris Rock is a comedian, movie star, and Hollywood fixture. He is Chris Rock. And Kevin Hart and Chris Rock are as interchangeable as America Ferrera and Gina Rodriguez — which is to say, not at all.
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