Seth Rogen Mocks Chris Brown at Independent Spirit Awards

When Seth Rogen took the podium at the Independent Spirit Awards last weekend, everyone was expecting him to use Hollywood’s most irreverent awards ceremony as a forum for teeing off on some of the entertainment industry’s best and brightest. Well, he did just that, taking aim at a long list of celebrities that included Brett Ratner, Mel Gibson, and everyone’s favorite Twitter celebrity, Chris Brown.

Rogen unloaded on Ratner and Brown during the same joke, delivered during his monologue. Riffing on the way Ratner was ousted as the producer of this year’s Oscar ceremony (after he made some ill-advised comments about the sexual preferences of those who value the rehearsal process), Rogen quipped, “I honestly bet, though, that Brett Ratner really wishes he was organizing the Grammys, because they seem much more forgiving than the Oscars altogether.”

He went on to explain what he meant by that, pointing out that Brown’s recent Grammy performance came after his arrest for assaulting Rihanna: “Seriously, if you say a few hateful things, they don’t let you within 100 feet of the Oscars. You could literally beat the s— out of a nominee and they ask you to perform twice at the Grammys.”

Rogen’s monologue comes during a wave of bad press for Brown, who has been busy battling Twitter users, anonymous rumors, and allegations of theft while enjoying some of the busiest times (and highest-profile performances) of his career. In fact, all the negative PR doesn’t seem to be having much of an impact on his album sales these days. Perhaps there really is no such thing as bad publicity?

Watch Seth Rogen’s Opening Monologue at the 2012 Independent Spirit Awards