Will Smith, Chris Rock Oscars slap: Chris Rock addresses ‘selective trolling’ and talks Oscars slap in Netflix live special
Chris Rock finally addressed that Oscars Will Smith slaps almost a year later and it made Australian Sunday afternoon streaming history.
“I’m going to try to do a show tonight without offending anybody. I’m going to try my best, because you never know who might to be inspired,” said Rock as he opened his set from Baltimore on Saturday night local time.
“People always say hurtful words … no one who says words has ever been hurt in the face.”
READ MORE: Harry Styles fulfills a ‘boyish dream’ with a special guest from Australia during an incredible duet
After that quick mention of it Smith being dragged on stage at last year’s Academy AwardsRock saved his jokes about the incident until the last ten minutes of the show.
“You all know what happened to me, getting caught by Shug Smith,” Rock said. “It still hurts. I got it Summer ringing in my ears. But I’m not a victim, baby. You’ll never see me on Oprah or Gayle crying… I took that hit like Pacquiao.”
Rock praised Smith’s response to his Oscars joke about his wife, Jada Pinkett Smithmore about their relationship than him.
“I’ve loved Will Smith, my whole life,” Rock said. “I’ve rooted for Will Smith my whole life … now I’m watching Salvation just to see her get caught.”
Smith plays an enslaved man in the period drama, Salvation.
READ MORE: Sydney mum hits back at ‘last’ trip critics
“‘How come you didn’t do anything back that night?'” Rock said people have asked him. “Because I got parents. You know what my parents taught me? Don’t fight in front of white people.”
Rock touched on several topics in the first 50 minutes of the special, including slavery, abortion, racism in America, Meghan Markle, the Kardashian family and “wokeness”.
“I have no problem with the awakening. I have no problem with it. I’m all for social justice. I’m all for marginalized people getting their rights. The thing is I have a problem with selective harassment,” said Rock.
“You know what I’m talking about. One person does something, they get fired. Someone else does the exact same thing, nothing. You know what I’m talking about… the kind of people who play Michael Jackson songs but we don’t play R. Kelly. Only crime, one of them has better songs.”
READ MORE: Liz Hurley’s emotional tribute to Shane Warne
For a daily dose of 9 mil, subscribe to our newsletter here.
Addressing the country’s division, Rock said, “America is in terrible shape right now.”
“We got it worse than Ukraine. Yeah, I said it. You know why? Because Ukraine is united and America is clearly divided,” Rock joked. “If the Russians were coming here now, half the country would say, ‘Let’s hear them out.’ We’re in a bad place right now.”
Rock also explored his romantic life, saying that when he noticed his pillowcases were dirty, he realized what women do to men.
“I’m trying to celebrate women my age, who are 10 to 15 years younger than me,” he said. “Don’t hate the player, hate the game. I didn’t get rich and stay in shape to talk about Anita Baker. I’m trying to fk Doja Cat.”
Chris Rock: Selective Concernthe first ever live global streaming event for Netflix.
The show marked Rock’s sixth standup special and his second for Netflix after 2018 Tamborinedirected by Bo Burnham.
A pre-show started with comedian Ronny Chieng live from Los Angeles, where he told the crowd, “We could have put this thing on and nobody would have cared, but we do this for a noble reason: To try to kill at last. In fact, if you listen hard you can hear Baby Boomers canceling the last of their cable subscription packages.”
There was also a special after the show with performers including Arsenio Hall, Dana Carvey, David Spade, Yvone Orji and more.
Nine Entertainment Co (the publisher of this website) owns and operates the streaming service Stan.
‘The slap heard round the world’
