For nearly a year, Chris Rock held his tongue on the infamous Will Smith Oscars slap (which followed his “G.I. Jane” joke about Jada and an eye-roll response from her) that rolled out (in many people’s eyes) like a “snap” on Will’s behalf. During that duration, it hasn’t been hard to imagine that whatever Will was actually responding to, marching onstage and whooping Rock’s face, simply for that joke, didn’t add up. Rock more than suggested as much during this past weekend’s Selective Outrage special on Netflix, for which Rock took the gloves off and let loose upon Will.
Granted, Will (along with Jada) was certainly not the only target during Rock’s set, but it was the one everyone was waiting for and clearly the one that people noticed. And Rock duly delivered his dose of drama by suggesting that Smith took a swing at him out of frustration for being publicly dragged as a “bitch” after not only being cuckolded by Jada but being “interviewed by the person who cheated on [him] on television.” There’s a lot going on there, but the reported responses from Will and Jada’s camp kind-of blow past all that. Sources began talking to PEOPLE and mentioned that Smith unsuccessfully aimed for Rock’s forgiveness, and now a Jada “source” has rolled out.
Surprised, surprise, it sounds like Jada is not pleased. The source accuses Rock of being “obsessed” with her for nearly three decades. This accusation even includes a shot at his choice of venue (Baltimore’s Hippodrome theater) for the Netflix special, which is wild:
“Jada has had no part in all of this other than being heckled,” the source says. “Chris is obsessed with her and that’s been going on for almost 30 years.”
“Look where he chose to film his Netflix special. Her hometown [of Baltimore]. Obsessed.
“Back in 2016 she helped start a movement with the Academy Awards by questioning why there are so few Black members, and Chris took it to this” the source adds.
Clearly, Jada wouldn’t be pleased about him making light of her 2016 Oscars boycott, which he responded to as host by joking, “Isn’t she on a TV show’ Jada’s going to boycott the Oscars Jada boycotting the Oscars is like me boycotting Rihanna’s panties. I wasn’t invited!”
However, three decades of “obsession” would be the accusation, which is something to say, alright. Jada’s source doesn’t clarify there, so the gossip rounds will surely continue on that note. Oh hey, way back in the aughts, Rock and Jada did star together in those Madagascar movies. Actually, they did voice work and likely never ended up in the same room together while he voiced a zebra and she voiced a hippo. I’m only mentioning this because it’s worth beefing about the “Circus Afro” song (as recited by Rock) that got stuck in people’s heads after one of those movies. Until I hear another reason, I will totally speculate about that song being the source of all of this drama.