When Will Smith punched Chris Rock at the 2022 Academy Awards, many members of the live audience and home TV viewers thought it was a prank — until they were shocked to discover it wasn’t.
After barely commenting on the incident during his concert tour last year and declining numerous interview requests, Rock on Saturday finally hit back with a barrage of brutal jabs at Smith and his wife Jada Pinkett Smith, who have filed allegations of infidelity. in their marriage and repeatedly refers to his Oscar-winning nemesis as a “bitch”. The comedic backlash came during Rock’s Netflix special “Selective Outrage,” which aired live worldwide from Baltimore’s Hippodrome Performing Arts Center.
“You never know who’s going to be triggered,” Rock, dressed in an all-white outfit, joked with a (thinly) veiled nod to the slap in the opening moments of his set, promising a performance that wouldn’t offend anyone. “Someone who says ‘Words hurt’ has never been punched in the face.”
Later, during a riff about Snoop Dogg doing so many commercials, he more explicitly referenced Smith, who started out as a musician: “I don’t diss Snoop,” he said to loud laughter. “The last thing I need is another crazy rapper.”
However, for much of the special, Rock avoided the highly anticipated topic of meeting Smith to follow his friend and Netflix comedian Dave Chappelle into a lengthy discussion of “Awakening” — including Chappelle’s frequent target, transgender people — and allusions to it. low-hanging comic fruits like OJ Simpson, Meghan Markle, Duchess of Sussex and the Kardashians. He also added odd material about opioid affinities and how the fact that he paid for abortions was a sign that he was pro-choice: “I’ve paid for more abortions than any woman in this room,” per Rock also went. in a more personal vein, with extensive coverage of child rearing and his love life – and a mention that his mother was in the audience.
When Rock finally faced the blow in the closing minutes of the set, he pulled no punches. “I’m not a victim, honey. You’ll never see me cry for Oprah or Gayle,” he said, contrasting his response with Smith’s. “I got that hit like Pacquiao did.”
Rock also brutally settled the issue of Pinkett Smith’s alleged infidelity with her husband – a “muddle” that addressed the couple on Red Table Talk by saying it was not a “conventional marriage”. “She hurt him Behaviour more than he hurt me,” Rock said. He also credited her as a catalyst for the counter-pace, drawing whistles and gasps from the audience: “She starts it, I finish it. Nobody votes for that bitch.”
“Do you know what my parents told me?” He told me to close the show. “Don’t fight in front of white people.”
Expectations were high for Rock to discuss the attack during the special – his first since Netflix’s Chris Rock: Tamborine – after previously telling the audience that he had to be paid before discussing the incident.
The premiere of “Selective Outrage” comes just days after Smith received a special award from the African American Critics Assn. for his performance in Emancipation, in which he plays a runaway slave. His performance was his first personal speech since the Oscars. Earlier this week, he was honored with an NAACP Image Award for Best Actor in a Motion Picture for “Emancipation.”
The explosive Oscar moment came when Rock handed out the award for Best Documentary Feature. After Rock made a joke about Smith’s wife, Jada Pinkett Smith, the actor jumped out of his chair, walked onto the stage and punched Rock in the face.
Less than an hour later, Smith was back on stage, this time making a tearful but awkward reference to the attack while accepting the lead actor award for “King Richard.” Days later, he resigned from the Academy of Motion Pictures and received a 10-year ban from Academy activities, including the Oscars.
The attack became the dominant topic of conversation at last year’s Academy Awards, which until then had marred a vigorous celebration of black achievement and excellence. He has occasionally discussed the incident, posting an Instagram video in July and making brief remarks during interviews promoting “emancipation.”
Read Rock’s full commentary on the slap and the Smiths on “Selective Outrage” below:
You all know what happened to me when I got beat up by Suge Smith. I was touched by this mom after the Oscars — and people were like, “Did it hurt?” It still hurts! I sucked “Summertime” into my ears. But I’m not a victim, honey. You’ll never see me cry for Oprah or Gayle. will never happen “I can’t believe it and I love ‘Men in Black.’ will never happen
I took that hit like Pacquio, Ma… I know you can’t see it on camera, but Will Smith is a lot taller than me. We are not the same size. Will Smith makes shirtless movies. You’ve never seen me do a shirtless movie. I’m in a movie with open heart surgery while wearing a sweater. Will Smith played Muhammad Ali in a movie. Do you think I auditioned for this role? I played Pookie in New Jack City. … Even in animation, this mother is taller. I am a zebra, he is a shark.
Will Smith practices selective outrage. Everyone knows what happened. Anyone who really knows knows I had nothing to do with it. I had no ‘entanglements’. … His wife was f— her son’s girlfriend. Well, normally I wouldn’t talk about it. But for some reason [they] put it on the internet. I have no idea why two talented people would do such a thing. … We are all cheated. Everyone here has been scammed. None of us have ever been interviewed by the person who cheated on us on TV. “Hey, I sucked someone’s cock. How did that make you feel?”
She hurt him a lot more than he hurt me, okay? Everyone in the world called him a bitch. I called the mother – to express my condolences, he does not come to me. … They called him a slut, they called his wife a predator. And who does he meet? i. [Someone] he knows he can hit. That’s a bitch-“
Source: LA Times