Year after Oscars slap, Rock punches back in new special
A year after Will Smith smacked him on the Academy Awards stage, Chris Rock finally gave his rebuttal in a forceful stand-up special, streamed live on Netflix, in which the comedian bragged that he “took that hit like Pacquiao.”
The comedian, 58, recently performed his first stand-up special since last year’s Oscars on March 27 in a much-anticipated sequel that had all the hype — and more — of a Manny Pacquiao prizefight. “Chris Rock: Selective Outrage” from the Hippodrome Theatre in Baltimore marked Netflix’s first foray into live streaming. But it was also a longawaited comedy counterpunch to Academy Awards infamy.
Rock, performing in all white and with a Prince medallion around his neck, immediately touched on last year’s Oscars while riffing on “wokeness,” hypersensitivity and what he called “selective outrage.”
“You never know who might get triggered,” said Rock. “Anybody who says words hurt hasn’t been punched in the face.”
But Rock then launched into a series of wide-ranging topics examining contemporary issues, including virtue signaling, highpriced yoga pants, the Duchess of Sussex, the Kardashians, abortion rights, the Capitol riot and what he called America’s biggest addiction: Attention. “We used to want love, now we just want likes,” said Rock.
Rock made clear “Selective Outrage” was not going to be just a Smith show. Only occasionally did Rock’s material dovetail with the 2022 Oscars.
But an hour into his set, Rock closed the special with a torrent of material about the notorious Academy Awards moment.
“You all know what happened to me, getting smacked by Suge Smith. Everybody knows,”
Rock said. “It still hurts. I got ‘Summertime’ ringing in my ears.”
While Smith has apologized and repeatedly spoken about the incident, Rock has avoided all the usual platforms where celebrities often go to air their feelings. He never sat down with Oprah Winfrey, and turned away the many media outlets that would have loved to land an exclusive interview.
“I’m a not a victim, baby,” said Rock. “You will never see me on Oprah or Gayle (King) crying. You will never see it. Never going to happen.”
But Rock did use his encounter with Smith to shape and enliven his second stand-up special for Netflix. Some of his best material was on their physical differences.
“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,” added Rock. “I played Pookie in ‘New Jack City.’ ”
Ultimately, Rock suggested he was just caught in the crossfire in Smith’s relationship with his wife, Jada Pinkett Smith. It was a joke that Rock told about Pinkett Smith that prompted Smith to stride on stage and strike Rock. In the special, the comedian referenced Pinkett Smith’s earlier confessions of 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.”
Before dropping his microphone and holding his arms up triumphantly, Rock left the crowd with one last zinger. Rock said the reason why he didn’t physically retaliate at the Oscars was because “I got parents.”
“And you know what my parents taught me?” he said. “Don’t fight in front of white people.”
Rock retook the cultural spotlight just before this year’s Oscars on March 12, where the slap is sure to revisited by host Jimmy Kimmel. In the aftermath of last year’s events, Smith resigned his membership to the film academy, and its board of governors banned Smith from the Oscars and all other academy events for a decade.