He Said What? Chris Rock's SNL Monologue Hits a Nerve

Chris Rock’s jokes about the new World Trade Center in his SNL monologue sparked immediate reaction across the country. INSIDE EDITION has the scoop.

It doesn't get much edgier than Chris Rock on Saturday Night Live joking about the long-awaited opening of the World Trade Center on the very spot where the Twin Towers fell on 9/11.

Rock on SNL said, "In the same spot? They put another skyscraper in the same spot? What are they thinking? Who's the corporate sponsor, Target?"

INSIDE EDITION's Steven Fabian was downtown on opening day reporting, "The doors here at the tallest building in the Western Hemisphere have just opened for business and the first tenants are moving in. The mood is upbeat, despite a firestorm of criticism over Chris Rock's edgy monologue about the giant skyscraper also known as "The Freedom Tower."

Among the trendy tenants who'll occupy the dazzling tower is famed Vogue fashion editor Anna Wintour, with an office on the 25th floor. But don't expect to see Chris Rock moving in any time soon!

"They should change the name from Freedom Tower to the ‘Never Goin' In There Tower!' Cause I'm never goin' in there," said Rock on SNL.

It was a hot topic on The Talk. Sharon Osbourne said, "The one thing I have to agree with him on, you wouldn't get my (blank) in that building."

Within minutes of Rock's monologue, Twitter exploded with thousands of reactions, many of them angry.

One tweet read, "Wonder if Chris Rock would be doing those jokes on SNL if his mother was in one of those buildings."

"After that monologue, nothing Chris Rock says or does will be funny," read another.

Rock also made waves with a controversial joke about the Boston Marathon, where two pressure cooker bombs exploded at the finish line in 2013, killing three people and injuring hundreds.

Rock joked, "You're training for a year, finally get to the finish line and somebody screams, ‘Run!’"

Ironically, Rock's monologue was defended by SNL cast member Pete Davidson, whose father, fireman Scott Davidson, died on 9/11.

Pete tweeted: "Chris Rock's monologue was brilliant! I'm not offended at all. Funny is funny!"