A year after he was beaten by actor Will Smith at the Oscars in Hollywood, American comedian Chris Rock (58) discussed the incident in detail in a live-streamed Netflix comedy special.
“I’m going to try to do the show without offending anyone,” he said at the start of the streaming service’s first live comedy show from Baltimore’s Hippodrome Theater with a nod to the Oscar clap. “Because you never know who might be triggered.” During the hour-long comedy special, he initially seemed to remain silent about the incident.
But under the motto of “saving the best for last,” he discussed the incident with Will Smith at the end of his show. “People wonder if the blow hurt. Well it still hurts! I’ve had the number ever since Summertime in my ears,” Rock joked, referring to Smith’s 1991 single. “I took that hit as (Manny) Pacquiao[Filipino professional boxer, ed.],” he boasted to cheers from the crowd.
Will Smith walked onto the stage at the Oscars in March last year and punched Rock in the face after the comedian joked about his wife’s appearance. She suffers from alopecia, which makes her bald. Rock compared her to the well-known character GI Jane, who has a bald head like her. Smith returned to his seat after the blow and later on stage accepted the Oscar for “Best Actor” for his role in the film King Richard.
After the gala, Smith apologized to Rock, all attendees and viewers via Instagram. “My behavior was unacceptable and there is no excuse for it,” he wrote. “I’m ashamed and my actions don’t fit the man I want to be.”
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Relationship problems
In a nod to the show’s title, the comedian accused Smith of “selective outrage” a year later. According to Rock, the blow had more to do with Smith and his wife’s relationship problems than with his Oscar joke. The pair have been candid about the ups and downs of their relationship in the past and even spoke publicly about their struggles on Jada’s Facebook Watch show, Red Table Talk. “We’ve all been cheated, everyone here has been cheated, none of us have ever been interviewed by the person who cheated on us on television,” Rock joked. “She hurt him a lot more than he hurt me.”
“People say ‘words hurt’ but anyone who says that has never been punched in the face,” Rock continued. To tell afterwards that he went to the slavery drama Emancipation had been watching – an action thriller in which Smith stars as a sneaky enslaved – purely to hear the actor “scream” as he is beaten. “While watching I yelled ‘hit him again’ and ‘you missed another spot’.”
With a mic drop moment, Rock ended the special by addressing why he chose not to fight back after Smith’s punch. “I have parents! Because I was raised!” said Rock. “Do you know what my parents taught me? Don’t fight in front of white people.”
Representatives for the Smiths have not yet responded to requests for comment.
40 million
Netflix paid $40 million for two comedy specials with Chris Rock under a 2016 deal, according to insiders. Saturday’s special was the second. Rock joked about topics ranging from the British royal family to the Kardashians, abortion and his dating life for most of the show.
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