Almost a year after the infamous Oscars slap, comedian Chris Rock is finally addressing what happened in his live Netflix special, “Selective Outrage.
After an hour of new material, the comedian dove into what thousands of audience members had been waiting to hear, breaking down the aftermath of the on-stage smack between him and Oscar-winner Will Smith.
“You all know what happened to me, getting smacked by Suge Smith, everybody knows, everybody fucking knows,” Rock said. “I got smacked like a year ago… and people are like, ‘Did it hurt?’ It still hurts. I got ‘Summertime’ ringing in my ears.”
Despite the pressure from the press, Rock is adamant that you won’t see him dissecting it on a talk show. “I’m not a victim baby, you will never see me on Oprah or Gayle [King] crying. You will never see it… It’s never going to happen. Fuck that shit, I took that shit like [Manny] Pacquiao.”
The comedian went on to reveal that the title of his show was also inspired by the slap, “Will Smith practices Selective Outrage.” Rock said. “Everybody who really knows, knows I had nothing to do with that shit. I didn’t have any ‘entanglements.’” Referencing the “Red Table Talk” between Smith and his wife Jada Pinkett Smith. “His wife was fucking her son’s friend. I normally would not talk about this shit… I have no idea why two talented people would do something that fucking lowdown. We’ve all been cheated on, everybody in here been cheated on. None of us has ever been interviewed by the person that cheated on us, on television… She hurt him way more than he hurt me.”
And after this interview Rock implies that, “everybody in the world called him a bitch. I tried to call the motherfucker, I tried to call that man and give him my condolences, he didn’t pick up for me.” The comedian then went on to list off all the people in Hollywood who called Smith a “bitch” after the aforementioned interview including “The View,” “The Breakfast Club,” “Drink Champs” and so on. “Everybody called him a bitch and who did he hit? Me.”
Netflix NFLX, +1.06% streamed its first-ever live event, “Chris Rock: Selective Outrage,” on Saturday night. Rock, 58, has largely kept quiet about the incident at last year’s Oscars ceremony, when Smith responded to a joke Rock cracked about the “Ali” actor’s wife, Jada Pinkett Smith, by walking onstage and slapping Rock across the face. But Rock’s hotly anticipated live special didn’t pull any punches. He took his time, seeming to reference “the slap” a few times early in the set — such as a bit about people getting too offended by things that other people say.
“Anyone who says ‘words hurt’ has never been punched in the face,” he said — drawing a big laugh. “Words hurt when you write ’em on a brick, OK?”
And after he cracked jokes about artists Snoop Dogg and Jay-Z, he was quick to add that he meant no offense. “The last thing I need is another mad rapper,” he said more than once during the set.
They had to wait a bit, as Rock saved the Smith stuff for the end of his set. He spent the last 10 minutes or so discussing the slap, and using some of the material that he has been test-driving on the road. The title of the standup special, “Selective Outrage,” harks back to a Smith bit Rock has done on his recent Ego Death world tour, including during a Feb. 17 show at Baltimore’s Hippodrome Theatre — where, coincidentally, the live Netflix event was also held. A Baltimore Sun reporter who attended the Feb. 17 show said that Rock riffed, “Will Smith practices selective outrage,” before adding, “People who are in the know, know that s— had nothing to do with me.” And he repeated this during Saturday night’s special.
But Rock credited himself for not doing a sitdown with Oprah Winfrey or doing the expected public-relations tour after the incident, noting, “I’m not a victim.”
“You will never see it. Never gonna happen,” he said. “I took that hit like [fighting legend Manny] Pacquiao.”
So why didn’t he hit back? “‘Cause I got parents. That’s right. Because I was raised,” he said. “You know what my parents taught me? Don’t fight in front of white people!”
And with that, he ended his set and dropped the mic.
