Chris Rock is debuting a brand new comedy special on Netflix this weekend. Now, it’s seemingly been confirmed that, during the live stream, the comedian will joke about being slapped by Will Smith at the 2022 Oscars. The AV Club shared some alleged leaked jokes that Rock will tell, with the infamous “slap” being prominently discussed.
“The thing people wanna know … did it hurt? Hell yeah it hurt. He played Muhammad Ali! I played Pookie (in New Jack City). Even in animated movies I’m a zebra, he’s a f—ing shark,” Rock supposedly says, per The Wall Street Journal. CNN added that he is believed to quip, “Will Smith is a big dude. I am not. Will Smith is shirtless in his movies. If you see me in a movie getting open heart surgery, I’m gonna have a sweater on.”
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Lastly, it has been reported that Rock has a joke about Smith’s historical-based movie , wherein the actor portrays a runaway slave. Rock allegedly jokes that he watched the movie “just so I could watch him getting whipped.” However, the AV Club notes that since Rock’s special will be performed live, there is no way to really confirm that any of the aforementioned jokes will be included.
In 2022, during the Academy Awards telecast, Smith took issue with a G.I. Jane that host Chris Rock made about the Independence Day star’s wife, Jada Pinkett-Smith. After leaving his seat, Smith approached Rock on the stage, and hit him with a hard open-hand slap. Upon returning to his seat, Smith yelled to Rock, “Keep my wife’s name out of your f—ing mouth.”
Following the violent outburst, Smith took to social media to issue an apology. “Jokes at my expense are a part of the job, but a joke about Jada’s medical condition was too much for me to bear and I reacted emotionally,” he wrote on Instagram, insinuating that the joke was specifically bout Pinkett-Smith’s alopecia condition. “I would like to publicly apologize to you, Chris. I was out of line and I was wrong. I am embarrassed and my actions were not indicative of the man I want to be. There is no place for violence in a world of love and kindness.”
Smith added, “Violence in all forms is poisonous and destructive.” The actor also apologized to “the Academy, the producers of the show, all the attendees and everyone watching around the world,” as well as Venus and Serena Williams and their families, as it was his role in the biopic King Richard about them and their father that landed him an Oscar. “I deeply regret that my behavior has stained what has been an otherwise gorgeous journey for all of us,” Smith concluded. “I am a work in progress.”
