It’s been almost a year since the drama of the 94th Academy Awards ceremony when Will Smith stormed onstage and slapped Chris Rock. Now, Rock has finally addressed the incident in his stand-up special,Chris Rock: Selective Outrage.
Rock has been noticeably tight-lipped about the attack ever since the ceremony. However,Selective Outragehas him unleashing some of that understandable pent-up anger in ways already generating an extremely divisive reaction. TheOscars incident damaged Will Smith’s career, but it remains to be seen if the special does the same to Rock.
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The first hour ofSelective Outragedoesn’t even broach the topic. But then, he dives into the slap and Will Smith. Specifically, Rock calls his fellow actor “Suge Smith,” a reference to co-founder of Death Row Records Suge Knight. He also states that Smith is “significantly bigger” than him, yet Rock still took the slap like [Manny] “Pacquiao,” squashes the idea of discussingthe Oscars slap on a talk show, and reveals that the title of the show is essentially his diagnosis of Smith.
The primary question circling the special is just how funny it is. There are some great comparisons in his Will Smith rant, like comparing Will Smith’s role inAliwith his roles as Pookie inNew Jack Cityand “a piece of corn” inPootie Tang, but many find it all more petty than funny. This is specifically true of his digs at Jada Pinkett Smith, who Rock said was “fing her son’s friend” before saying he has “no idea why two talented people would do something that fing lowdown.“Jada Pinkett Smith has already clarifiedshe wishes her husband hadn’t slapped Rock, so further burns could read as purely mean-spirited.
In Rock’s defence, he does say that he attempted to contact Will Smith after the Oscars to express remorse for how much flack Will Smith was getting in the media. But then the comedian goes into an elongated spiel about how every talk show called Smith a “b****,” and the sheer number of times he says the word makes it clear that Rock is using it himself, and it’s aimed right at Will Smith.
Rock is a man whoconsistently cracked up Christian Bale, so for those expecting straightforward comedy, the special will likely have its ups and downs. But, even if it doesn’t go down as the greatest set Rock ever performed, it will undoubtedly go down as the most hotly-anticipated and intensely debated.
