Chris Rock lets Will Smith have it in Netflix’s first-ever live comedy special
Written by ABC Audio. All rights reserved. on March 5, 2023
(NOTE LANGUAGE) Chris Rock took the stage at Baltimore’s Hippodrome Theatre Saturday night for Netflix’s first live comedy special, Selective Outrage — and finally addressed the infamous Oscar-night slap by Will Smith, which took place nearly a year ago to the day of the special.
Rock, clad in white with a necklace featuring Prince‘s symbol, tackled numerous topics, from cancel culture to the recurring theme of the special: “Selective outrage,” which he described as “the kind of people who play Michael Jackson songs but won’t play R. Kelly. Same crime, one of them just got better songs.”
He also discussed the Kardashians, fatherhood and Meghan Markle, but it all served as as a warmup for the main event: The Slap.
“You all know what happened to me, getting smacked by ‘Suge’ Smith,” Rock said, seemingly comparing Will Smith to jailed Death Row CEO Suge Knight. “I got smacked like a year ago…and people are like, ‘Did it hurt?’ It still hurts,” he joked. “I got ‘Summertime’ ringing in my ears.”
However, Rock insisted, “I am not a victim,” adding, “You’re not gonna see me on Oprah…It’s never going to happen….I took that s*** like Pacquiao.“
“Will Smith is significantly bigger than me,” Rock said. “He does movies where he takes his shirt off. You’ll never see me doing a movie with my shirt off. If you see me in a movie getting open heart surgery, I’m gonna have a sweater on.”
“Will Smith played Muhammad Ali in a movie…even in animation, he’s bigger: I’m a zebra, he’s a shark,” he joked, referring to their respective roles in Madagascar and Shark Tale.
Rock noted that he’s “always rooted for Will Smith,” and blamed the slap on Jada Pinkett Smith. He revealed that the bad blood between him and Jada started when he hosted the Oscars in 2016.
As Rock noted, she said that me, a f***ing grown a** man, should quit his job because ‘My husband didn’t get nominated for Concussion,’ and then this [guy] gives me a f***ing concussion!”
He then explained, “Will Smith practices selective outrage.” By way of example, he brought up Jada’s admitted affair with August Alsina.
“Everybody in here has been cheated on. None of us have ever been interviewed by the person that cheated on us on television,” Rock said, referring to Jada’s Red Table Talk episode in which she talked about the affair, with Smith on the other side of the mic. During that time, Rock said he tried to reach to Smith.
“Everybody called him a b**** and who does he hit? Me!” Rock said. “Me: A [guy] he know he could beat. That is some b****-a** shit.”
Rock concluded by explaining why he didn’t hit Will back.
“‘Cause I got parents, that’s why,” he stated. “‘Cause I was raised. And you know what my parents taught me? Don’t fight in front of white people.”
He then literally dropped the mic and walked offstage.
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