Chris Rock rips Will Smith over Oscars slap in live Netflix special


Chris Rock is ready to talk smack about Will Smith.
In his live Netflix comedy special Selective Outrage, the comedian tore into the King Richard actor nearly one year after being slapped by him on stage at the 2022 Oscars. Most of Rock's jokes on the subject came at the end of the special, and he quipped that he was "smacked by Suge Smith."
"People are like, 'Did it hurt?'" Rock said. "It still hurts! I got 'Summertime' ringing in my ear!"
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Rock rejected the notion that he and Smith had been "fighting," noting the actor is "significantly bigger" than him and joking, "Will Smith does movies with his shirt off. You've never seen me do a movie with my shirt off."
Smith slapped Rock over a joke about his wife, Jada Pinkett Smith, having a bald head. But Rock continued that "I had nothing to do with that s--t" and "I didn't have any entanglements," referring to an infamous episode of Pinkett Smith's talk show Red Table Talk where she discusses having a relationship with singer August Alsina that she described as an "entanglement."
"We've all been cheated on," Rock joked. "Everybody in here has been cheated on. None of us have ever been interviewed by the person that cheated on us on television. ... She hurt him way more than he hurt me."
Rock continued that Smith hitting him was "some b---h a-- s--t" and that he did "nothing" to Smith, adding that Pinkett Smith "started this" when she wanted him to "quit his job" hosting the 2016 Oscars because her husband wasn't nominated amid the #OscarsSoWhite backlash. "I have rooted for Will Smith my whole life," Rock said, "...and now I watch Emancipation just to see him get whooped." Smith plays a runaway slave in Emancipation. But Rock also said he's "not a victim" and that fans will "never see me on Oprah or Gayle crying."
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Rock's special streamed live on Netflix just over a week before the 2023 Oscars, which Smith won't attend after being banned from the ceremony for 10 years.
Brendan worked as a culture writer at The Week from 2018 to 2023, covering the entertainment industry, including film reviews, television recaps, awards season, the box office, major movie franchises and Hollywood gossip. He has written about film and television for outlets including Bloody Disgusting, Showbiz Cheat Sheet, Heavy and The Celebrity Cafe.
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