Comedian Chris Rock has Twitter buzzing after a Fourth of July tweet.

On Wednesday, Rock tweeted, "Happy white people's Independence Day. The slaves weren't free, but I'm sure they enjoyed fireworks."

Many of his 870,000 followers responded -- as did others across the Web.

Some people supported Rock's comment, while others claimed the remark was inappropriate, or even racist.

Former Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain told CNN the comedian was "holding onto the past."