Comedian, Chris Rock has finally addressed the infamous Oscars slap he received from actor, Will Smith after he made a joke about his wife, Jada Pinkett on stage.
Rock addressed the assault for the first time in a Netflix special, in which he roasted Smith and Pinkett.
Since the incident happened last year, Rock had refrained from talking openly about it.
But on Saturday night, Rock addressed the issue when his new Netflix stand-up – Chris Rock: Selective Outrage – live-streamed on the platform, making the comic the first artist to perform a live show on the service, The Metro UK reports.
During the hour-long show, Chris, 58, explained how the title for his Netflix special had connections to Will, 54, for his ‘selective outrage’ and poked fun at the actor’s wife Jada, 51, for admitting in 2020 that she had an ‘entanglement’ with singer August Alsina while she and Will were on a break, a revelation the pair later discussed on her Red Table Talk show.
“Will Smith practices selective outrage. Everybody that really knows I had nothing to do with that s***. I didn’t have any entanglements,” Chris told the audience.
Addressing the shocking Oscars moment where Will stormed the stage and slapped Chris across the face for joking about Jada’s shaved head, despite the fact she has alopecia, the comedian explained that he didn’t retaliate as he was raised not to ‘fight in front of white people’.
He added: ‘Everybody f*****’ knows. Yes, it happened, like a year ago, I got smacked at the f****** Oscars by this motherf*****.
‘People are like, “Did it hurt?” It still hurts! I’ve got Summertime ringing in my ears.
‘[But] you will never see me on Oprah or Gayle crying. Never gonna happen. I took that hit like Pacquiao, motherf*****.’
Chris claimed ‘everybody in the world’ called Will ‘a b****’ after the ‘entanglement’ revelation and said he tried to get in touch with him but the actor didn’t pick up.
He quipped: ‘Everybody. And who’s he hit? Me, a n**** he knows he can beat. That is some b****-a** s***.’
The comic also referred to a dispute he had with Will and Jada after he hosted the Oscars in 2016. Chris recalled how Jada told him not to host the ceremony because of the #OscarsSoWhite controversy and Will’s lack of nomination for Concussion.
‘I did some jokes about her. Who gives a f***? That’s how it is: She starts it, I finish it,’ he said.
‘That’s what the f*** happened. Nobody’s pickin’ on this b****. She started this s***. Nobody was pickin’ on her…. And then this n**** gives me a concussion!
‘I love Will Smith… he makes great movies. I rooted for Will Smith my whole life. And now, I watched Emancipation just so I could watch him get whooped.’
Rock said he didn’t retaliate when he was slapped by Smith because he had parents who taught him not to “fight in front of white people”.
Chris then dropped the mic and got a standing ovation before walking offstage.
