Netflix
Almost a year ago, Will Smith marched onto the Dolby Theater stage and pissed off host Chris Rock in the middle of the Oscars — all for the crime of joking about his wife Jada Pinkett Smith’s hairstyle. . I’m sure you know what happened next: Instead of removing him from the scene, the Academy let Smith stay, leading to a surreal, rambunctious acceptance speech (through tears) when he won the Best Actor Oscar for the film. King Richard later that evening. At the after-party, an intoxicated Smith was caught on video dancing with Oscar to his hit “Gettin’ Jiggy Wit It.”
While it took Smith months to release a video apology for The Slap, and he recently mocked it on TikTok, Rock has remained relatively tight-lipped about the episode, declining interviews — and an offer to return to host this year’s Oscars — and recording his responses for the stand-up stage. On the evening of March 4th, Rock released his new stand-up special Chris Rock: Selective Outrage on Netflix, marking the first time the streamer has performed a live stand-up concert. The show, held in Baltimore, Maryland, featured Rock’s most complete response to the blowout seen “around the world.”
Dressed in all white, as if he had just walked off the set of the “I Want It That Way” music video, the comedian took the stage to thunderous applause.
“I’m trying to do the show tonight without offending anyone,” he announced, adding, “Because you never know who might trigger.”
At the heart of Rock’s specialty is the concept of “selective rage”, meaning people “cancel” others for certain things and let people slide into the same crime, like when people play Michael Jackson but not R. Kelly because one of them has “better songs”.
After taking on the hypocrisy of “woke” corporations, the attention economy (and ironically, a stand-up comic), a white man’s complaint during the January 6th riot, Meghan Markle, Kardashian, abortion, and how Elon Musk’s body “looks so weird” with sperm due to the lack of having his dick sucked the entire time, Rock addressed the elephant in the room within ten minutes.
“You all know what happened to me. Hitting Suge Smith,” he remarked. “Everybody knows. Everybody fucking knows… This dude hit me at the Oscars and people are like, ‘Did it hurt?’ It still hurts! ‘Summertime’ is ringing in my ears!”
“But I’m not a victim, honey. You’ll never see me on Oprah or Gayle crying. You never will,” she said. “It’s never going to happen. No. Fuck that shit. I took that hit like Pacquiao, motherfucker. I took it like fucking Pacquiao, okay? Fuck, man. Did it hurt? Yeah, asshole. It hurt.”
He continued: “I know you can’t tell from the camera: Will Smith is significantly bigger than me. We’re not the same size, okay? We are not. Will Smith makes movies with his shirt off. You’ve never seen me make a movie with my shirt on. If I’m in a movie where I’m having open heart surgery, I’m wearing a sweater. Will Smith played Muhammad Ali in the movie! Do you think I auditioned for that part? He played Muhammad Ali, I played Pookie New Jack City! I played a piece of corn Pootie Tang!”
She then accused Smith of “selective rage” and addressed their viral “entanglements” during an interview with Red Table Talk, where Jada Pinkett Smith spoke with her husband about her relationship with singer August Alsina.
“Everyone who really knows know I had nothing to do with that shit. I had no “attachment”. I did not do. I didn’t have any “wraps,” he said. “And for people who don’t know… Will Smith’s wife married his son’s friend. Normally I wouldn’t talk about this shit, but for some reason these bastards put it online. I have no idea why two talented people would do something so low. What the fuck? We’ve all been scammed – everyone here has been scammed – none of us have been interviewed by the person who scammed us on TV. None of us! ‘Hey, I was sucking someone else’s dick. How did that make you feel?’”
“Why the hell did you do that shit?” Rock asked. “He hurt her more than he hurt me, okay? And by the way, he does that shit and everyone in the world called him a bitch. I tried to call the dude and give him my condolences (but) he didn’t answer me,” she said, adding. “Everybody called her a bitch. All. And who did he hit? I… That’s bullshit. That’s what the hell happened, okay? Get the hell out of here, man! I won’t do anything to this asshole.”
Rock then went into the backstory of why the Smiths were mad at Rock — a joke he made while hosting the 2016 Oscars, which the Smiths boycotted and called on Rock to step down as host.
“Jada said she’s not coming (away) from the protest. I was like, ‘Isn’t she on a TV show?’ Is Jada going to boycott the Oscars? Jada boycotting the Oscars is like me boycotting Rihanna’s panties. I wasn’t invited!” he joked then.
He said: ‘He should resign because Will didn’t get nominated Concussion.’ What the fuck? So I joked about it. Who the fuck? It is so. He starts it, I finish it, okay?” he said during Selective rage. “That’s what happened. Nobody’s gonna take this bitch. She started this shit. Nobody’s bullying her. Nobody bullied her. She said I, a grown man, should quit my job because her husband wasn’t nominated. Concussion, and then this n***a gives me a concussion, okay? What the hell, man!”
Rock continued: “I’ve been leaning on this asshole all my life. And now I look Emancipation only to see her scream. Made me root for Massa, okay? Hit him again, Massa! Hit him again! You missed the spot! A lot of people say, ‘Chris, why didn’t you do anything back? Why didn’t you do anything that night? Because I have parents. And you know what my parents taught me? Don’t fight in front of the whites!”
He then slammed the microphone to the ground and tearfully accepted the adoration of the audience.