On March 27, 2022, in a move that shocked the world, Will Smith walked on stage at the Oscars and slapped Chris Rock across the face.
The altercation happened after Rock made a joke at the expense of Jada Pinkett Smith, Will Smith’s wife.
Rock has stayed quiet about the whole ordeal until he addressed the slap during his newest Netflix comedy special “Selective Outrage” that was released on Saturday.
Rock referred to the incident several times during the special saying, “I do not need another rapper mad at me.”
Rock said that he was trying to finish what Pinkett Smith started, after she criticized the lack of diversity in the nominees for the 2016 Academy Awards, which Rock also hosted, according to a March 5, 2023 E! News article. One of Pinkett Smith’s wishes in 2016 was that Rock not host the Oscars, according to the same E! News article.
Rock’s jokes at the Oscars are part of his job and his professional persona. Not to mention, the G.I. Jane joke that Rock aimed at Pinkett Smith wasn’t necessarily bad.
What do you expect if you are sitting in the front row of the Oscars during a comedian’s monologue?
He said, “Jada. I love you. G.I. Jane 2, Can’t wait to see it.” He was of course implying that she looked like a character from the movie “G.I. Jane” with her head shaved.
The underlying pain in that joke was that Pinkett Smith shaved her head because she suffers from alopecia areata, an autoimmune disease that causes hair loss, according to a National Institute of Health website.
“G.I. Jane” was released in 1997, about a woman successfully placed in combined reconnaissance training, despite everyone expecting her to be unsuccessful in her efforts, according to IMDb. In the movie, actress Demi Moore has a shaved head.
In this day and age, you’d think it would be viewed as empowering and a much more positive crack at Pinkett Smith than Will Smith made it out to be. It is generally more acceptable that people can wear many different hairstyles as statements of their own uniqueness.
Smith’s reaction to the joke was entirely unprofessional and unjustified.
No matter how a joke makes someone feel in the moment, they should never resort to intense profanity or violence, especially at an event like the Academy Awards. Millions of people watched Will Smith slap Chris Rock in the face for a small joke, which will forever be a part of Rock’s legacy.
Despite all of the many accomplishments Rock has had in his career, from his great roles as an actor to his game-changing stand-ups, he will forever be known as the guy who got slapped on stage by the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air.
Smith even acknowledged that he was wrong shortly after the Academy Awards last year, issuing an apology to Rock. Smith said in his apology, “I would like to publicly apologize to you, Chris. I was out of line and I was wrong,” according to a March 28, 2022 article by CNBC.
During his Netflix special, Rock was venting about the incident the only way he knows how: through comedy. Throughout the entire fiasco, Rock just stood back and made jokes about the incident, rather than resorting to violence like Smith.
This shows that Rock should be seen as more of a man for standing back and taking the incident in stride than Smith ever was for delivering that famous slap. When it comes down to it, Rock was just doing his job and Will Smith was being overly sensitive.
During the Netflix special, you can immediately tell that bringing up the incident was his own way of healing from the ordeal.
Even Marlon Wayans agreed during his guest spot on CBS Mornings, where he spoke about his feelings on the comments Rock made in his special, according to a March 8, 2023 People article.
“What you heard was somebody that was hurt, somebody that was finding their way to heal in that moment,” Wayans said.
Cracking more jokes about the incident was the best way Rock could respond, especially when it’s been nearly a year.
In his comedy special, Rock said he “took that shot like Pacquiao,” referring to the former world champion boxer, and that he had nothing to do with any “entanglement” that went on between the Smiths.
“Entanglement” is a reference to Pinkett Smith’s 2020 confession of infidelity with her son’s friend and R&B singer, August Alsina, on Red Table Talk, a TV talk show that Pinkett Smith stars in, according to an April 12, 2022 US Weekly article.
Rock went on to say that the slap “still hurts.”
“I have summertime ringing in my ears,” Rock said. “Drums Please!”
During his special, Rock also said that Smith practices “selective outrage” and that the incident has changed his perception of Smith.
It was pretty evident that Rock is still salty about the situation and rightfully so. This will be a stain on a legendary career.
It is absolutely undeniable that what Smith did was outrageously inappropriate and that Rock did the right thing. As the bigger man in this situation, Rock surely deserves to vent and get his thoughts out about the incident how and when he sees fit.
Anyone who watches the comedy special will immediately see how wholesome and mature of a venting session it really is, as after almost every other joke, Rock makes sure to say that he isn’t trying to offend or diss anyone.
Rock even addressed the reason as to why he didn’t resort to violence and fight back against Smith at that moment.
It was because he “has parents that taught him to never fight in front of white people.”
Obviously this statement, at face value, is a joke. Looking at the bigger picture, he basically means that his parents raised him better than to resort to such violence.
