Tonight Netflix aired a first-of-its-kind live standup special by Chris Rock in front of a packed house at Baltimore’s Hippodrome Theater, and just as was rumored, the comic took Will Smith to the woodshed for the now-infamous “The Slap” incident at the 2022 Oscars. Rock saved his passionate diatribe about Smith until the end of his performance, but as anyone who watched can probably attest, it was worth the wait.
“You all know what happened to me, getting smacked by Suge Smith,” Rock opened, comparing Smith to notorious hip-hop mogul Suge Knight. “It still hurts. I got ‘Summertime’ 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 (Manny) Pacquiao.”
From there Rock went on to note how he was a huge Will Smith fan for most of his life, listening to his music and seeing all of his movies. Now, he said, “I watch ‘Emancipation’ just to see him get whooped.”
Rock went on to posit that Smith attacked him that night because a) he’s much smaller than Smith is and b) Smith was filled with rage after being publicly ridiculed as a “bitch” for months after being publicly cuckolded by his wife, Jada Pinkett Smith.
“His wife was fucking her son’s friend. Now, I normally would not talk about this shit, but for some reason, these (people) put this shit on the internet. I have no idea why two talented people would do something that fucking lowdown. We’ve all been cheated on, everybody in here’s been cheated on. None of us has ever been interviewed by the person who cheated on us on television… Why the fuck would you do that shit She hurt him way more than he hurt me. Everybody called him a bitch and who did he hit Me!”
Rock concluded his evisceration of Smith with a mic drop and then exited the stage. You can watch some of the outtakes captured by Twitter users below.
— GoreJust Goth (@gorejustgoth) March 5, 2023
Chris Rock finally addressing Will Smith and the Oscars slap during his Netflix special, says he’s not a victim and took the hit like Pacquiao #ChrisRock pic.twitter.com/S0QY5T7zPZ
— Eric Diep (@E_Diep) March 5, 2023