American comedian Chris Rock revealed why he refrained from taking revenge on Hollywood star Will Smith and did not respond to the slap he received about a year ago at the 2022 Academy Awards, admitting that it still hurts him.
During a live comedy show on Netflix on Saturday evening, March 4, 2023, entitled “Selective Outrage”, Rock spoke at length about the slap incident.
Chris Rock started the show saying, “I’m going to try to do tonight’s show without offending anyone. I’m going to do my best, because you never know who might get offended.”
He continued with a wink, “People always say words hurt…anyone who says words hurt hasn’t been punched in the face. You all know what happened to me, I got slapped by Smith. It still hurts, and I heard a ringing in my ears because of it the whole time.” Summer, but I am not a victim. You will never see me on (Oprah) or (Gael) crying .. I took this blow like Pacquiao (meaning Manny Pacquiao, the famous Filipino boxer).”
And about the real reason for the slap, Rock believes that Smith, “was practicing selective rage. Everyone knows what happened. And everyone really knows I had nothing to do with this shit. I had no entanglements,” referring to Pinkett Smith’s description of the relationship she had with rapper August. Alsina when she was married to Smith.
Rock added, “I loved Will Smith, I loved him my whole life. He made some great movies, now I watch Emancipation just to see him get whacked.”
And the movie “Liberation” is the latest that Will Smith presented after the Oscar incident, and it deals with the story of an African-American slave looking for freedom after being severely tortured.
Rock said, “People asked me. How did you not do anything that night? Because I have parents. Do you know what my parents taught me? Don’t fight in front of white people,” in a clear reference to the racism experienced by people of African descent in the United States of America, which makes the quarrel of two Black actors in front of millions deeply degrade them.
On March 27, 2022, during the Academy Awards ceremony, Chris Rock made a joke about Jada Pinkett Smith’s shaved hair, which angered Jada and her husband, Will Smith, who moved towards Chris Rock, the presenter, slapped him hard in the face, and then returned to his seat.
Minutes after the slap, Will Smith himself won his first Best Actor Oscar for “King Richard,” but as soon as the ceremony ended, the repercussions began.
Will Smith’s slap became the most circulated news on websites and social media pages. Smith was punished by depriving him of attending the Academy Awards for 10 years, and he disappeared from view for months and apologized on his YouTube account, and he did not appear to the public until recently after the screening of the movie “Liberation”.
Days after the slap, Rock performed in Boston but said on stage at the time, “I’m still trying to process what happened, so at some point I’m going to talk about this shit. It’s going to be serious and funny,” while his mother lashed out at Will Smith.
In the Netflix episode, the comedian tackled various topics such as addiction, abortion, racism in America, Meghan Markle, Duchess of Sussex, the Kardashian family, and others.
This performance is Chris Rock’s sixth stand-up comedy show and his second on Netflix after Tamborine of 2018.
Source : Al Jazeera + Websites + social media sites
