Chris Rock finally broke his silence in front of a nationally televised audience one year after the infamous Oscar slap. Performing at the Hippodrome Theater in Baltimore, Jada Pinkett-Smith’s hometown, Rock shared his thoughts via a Netflix special that was streamed live.
Rock used his power of jokes to strike back at Will Smith who slapped him in 2022 at the Oscars. The comedian started by saying, “They say, ‘words hurt. You gotta watch what you say because ‘words hurt.’ Anybody who says ‘words hurt’ has never been punched in the face. Words hurt when you write them on a brick.”
Rock would delve into other subjects such as racism, R. Kelly, and relationships before fully addressing the altercation with Smith.
“You all know what happened to me, getting smacked by Suge Smith. Everybody knows. Everybody knows. I got smacked like a year ago… and people are like, ‘Did it hurt?’ It still hurts. I got ‘Summertime’ ringing in my ears,” he joked, referring to Smith’s hit.
Rock said that he will not do a sit down interview to share thoughts on what occurred during the Oscars. “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. I took that s— like [Manny] Pacquiao,” he joked.
Rock then spoke about the size difference between him and Smith. “Will Smith is significantly bigger than me, we are not the same size,” he said. “Will Smith does movies with his shirt off. You’ve never seen me do a movie with my shirt off. If I’m in a movie getting open heart surgery, I got on a sweater. Will Smith played Muhammad Ali in a movie, you think I auditioned for that part? I played Pookie in ‘New Jack City.’ I played a piece of corn in ‘Pootie Tang’. Even in animation this [expletive] is bigger. I’m a zebra, he’s a shark.”
He then talked about Pinkett-Smith and what he believed started the feud.
“She said [I] should quit because Will didn’t get nominated for ‘Concussion.’ So then I do some jokes about it, who gives a [expletive]? That’s how it is. She started it, I finished it.”
However, some believed that he went too far by calling Pinkett-Smith the B-word. “Nobody’s picking on this b—. She started this s—. Nobody was picking on her,” he said.
Overall, Rock was able to use comedy as a way to strike back one year after taking a slap from Smith. Both men have dealt with the backlash in different ways. Although some will disagree with a few of Rock’s jokes, he was able to get his point across on the comedy stage, a medium he knows best.
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