Television

Chris Rock fires back at Will Smith over Oscars slap during ‘Selective Outrage’

Chris Rock addressed the Oscars slap during Netflix’s first live global streaming event on Saturday night.

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Chris Rock finally took aim at Will Smith during his Netflix special, ‘Chris Rock: Selective Outrage’, on Saturday night.

The comedian performed his first standup special since last year’s infamous Oscars moment live from the Hippodrome Theatre in Baltimore. The event made history as it was Netflix’s first venture into live streaming.

Rock waited before touching on Oscars moment

Although the event made history for Netflix, all the focus was on Rock and what he would say about Smith.

Dressed in all white with a Prince medallion around his neck, Rock started out the evening by touching on “selective outrage”.

“I’m going to try to do a show tonight without offending nobody. I’m going to try my best, because you never know who might get triggered,” Rock said as he opened his set. “People always say words hurt … anybody who says words hurt has never been punched in the face.”

From there Rock touched on a variety of topics, including high-priced yoga pants, the Duchess of Sussex, the Kardashians and the U.S. Capitol riot.

Rock made clear ‘Selective Outrage’ wasn’t going to just focus on Will Smith, and he saved his material about the Oscars moment until about an hour into the show.

“You all know what happened to me, getting smacked by Suge Smith. Everybody knows,” Rock said, before making a reference to Smith’s 1991 hit. “It still hurts. I got Summertime ringing in my ears.”

Rock says he isn’t a victim

Having kept quiet about the incident over the past year and turning away media outlets who would have loved to interview him about the incident, Rock made it clear he isn’t a victim.

“I’m not a victim, baby,” said Rock. “You will never see me on Oprah or Gayle crying. You will never see it. Never going to happen.”

Rock then joked about the physical differences between him and Smith, which helped explain why he didn’t retaliate when hit.

“We are not the same size. This guy does movies with his shirt off,” said Rock. “You will never see me do a movie with my shirt off. If I’m in a movie getting open-heart surgery, I got on a sweater.

“He played Muhammed Ali. I played Pookie in New Jack City.”

Rock says he was caught between Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith

Rock then suggested that he was caught in the crossfire of Smith’s relationship with wife Jada Pinkett Smith, who confessed to having an “entanglement” with another man while married.

“I did not have any entanglements,” said Rock. “She hurt him way more than he hurt me.”

“I love Will Smith. Now I watch Emancipation just to see him get whooped.”

Rock ended the night with one last zinger about why he didn’t physically retaliate the night of the Oscars.

“‘How come you didn’t do nothing back that night?’” Rock said. “Because I got parents. You know what my parents taught me? Don’t fight in front of White people.”

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