Chris Rock spoke openly about slapping actor Will Smith in his new stand-up comedy special Saturday night.
The dramatic moment came during the 2022 Oscars after Rock, who hosted the event, made a comment about Jada Pinkett Smith’s hair.
But in his live stand-up special, Rock, 58, claimed that anyone who really knew about the circumstances surrounding the punch knew it wasn’t really about him — as he accused Smith, 54, of “selective outrage,” lashing out because his wife was having an affair.
He even brought up the fact that Jada Pinkett Smith only confessed to having an affair while interviewing her husband, noting, “His wife was her son’s goddamn friend.”
Now Rock says he still has ringing in his ears and watches the I Am Legend star’s feature film, Emancipation, “just to see him scream.”
Chris Rock spoke openly about punching Will Smith in the face during a live stand-up performance on Saturday night
The slapping incident at the Oscars was triggered by Rock making a joke to Smith’s wife, Jada Pinkett Smith, about how she kept her head shaved; the actors can be seen at the 2022 ceremony
Audience members eagerly awaited Rock to speak publicly about getting punched in the face when he took the stage Saturday night,
Finally, after about two and a half hours, he finally brought it up to close the show.
“You all know what happened to me when I was beaten by Suge Smith. Everyone knows, everyone knows,’ he began.
“I was smitten at the f****** Oscars by this motherf*****. And people are like “Did it hurt?” It still hurts. I’ve got Summertime ringing in my ears, f***** drums.
“But I’m not a victim. You’ll never see me cry at Oprah or Gayle. You’ll never see it, like, ‘I couldn’t believe it and I love Men in Black.’ No, that will never happen.
I took that punch like Pacquiao mother f*****,” said Rock, referring to Manny Pacquiao, a professional boxer.
He noted that ‘Will Smith is considerably taller than me. We are not the same size.
Will Smith does most of his movies with his shirt off. You’ve never seen me do a movie with my shirt off. If I’m in a movie having open heart surgery, I’m wearing a sweater,” Rock joked.
“Smith wants to play Mohammed Ali in a movie, do you think I auditioned for that role? He played Mohammed Ali, I played Pookie in New Jack City. I played a piece of corn in Pootie Tang. S*** even in animation this motherf****** is bigger: I’m a zebra, he’s a shark.
“But Will Smith practices selective outrage because anyone who knows what happened, anyone who actually knows, knows I had nothing to do with that bastard. I had no complications.
“His wife was her son’s goddamn boyfriend.”
During his stand-up special, Rock mentioned Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith’s marital problems and talked about how Jada Pinkett Smith said he couldn’t host the Oscars because her husband didn’t win.
Rock joked that he’s now watching Will Smith’s movie, Emancipation, “just to see him scream”
Will and Jada Pinkett Smith were pictured last year at the 2022 Academy Awards
“Now I wouldn’t normally talk about this s***,” Rock said. “But for some reason the n****** put that shit on the internet. I have no idea why two talented people would do something so damn low. What the f***.
“We’ve all been cheated, everyone here has been cheated. None of us have been interviewed by the person who cheated on us on television, like “Hey, I was blowing someone else’s head, how did that make you feel?” Why the hell would you do that?’ he asked, referring to a sit-down interview Jada gave Will in 2020.
“She hurt him a lot more than he hurt me, okay,” Rock insisted, noting that after the blow, “Everybody in the world called him ab***.”
“I tried to call the mother and offer my condolences. He didn’t answer for me.
“Everyone called him ab****,” the comedian continued. And who is he hitting? Me and **** she know he can be beaten. That’s a b****a**s***. That I fucking happened, OK. I ain’t done nothing with this motherf*****
“Years ago his wife told me to quit the Oscars,” Rock said.
“I shouldn’t be hosting because her husband wasn’t nominated for Emancipation, the biggest piece of shit ever. She starts it, I finish it.
“No one is taking this son of a bitch — she started it. No one was bullying her. And then this n***** gives me a ****** concussion, okay. What the f*** man?’
“I love Will Smith, all my life I loved this guy – I saw him open for Run DMC at the Nassau Coliseum. I’ve rooted for Will Smith all my life and now I watch Emancipation to see him cheer. I got rooted for Masa.
“A lot of people say, ‘Chris, why didn’t you return the favor?’ Because that’s why I have parents, because I was raised,” he concluded.
‘And do you know what my parents taught me? Don’t fight in front of white people.”
Jada Pinkett Smith had admitted to having an affair with singer August Alsina in an episode of her web series with her husband in 2020
Jada Pinkett Smith had admitted to having an affair with singer August Alsina in an episode of her web series with her husband in 2020.
She explained that she first met August through their son Jaden, and recalled that the singer, who would have been 23 at the time, was “very ill.”
Jade said, “And it all started with him just needing some help, I wanted to help his health, his mental state.
“Our family’s outpouring for him was primarily about his health,” she told her husband. “We found all these different resources to help him through it and from there you and I went through a really rough time.”
At that point, Will admitted, “I was done with you,” while Jada added that they decided to break up “for a while.”
“So what did you do, Jada?” Will asked, urging his wife to keep talking.
“As time went on, I got into a different kind of entanglement with August,” Jada explained.
The mother-of-two then responded to August’s claim that Will had given her “permission” to have an affair.
“The only person who can give permission in that circumstance is myself,” she insisted.
“But what August was probably trying to communicate, because I understood how he could see it as consent because we had broken up amicably, and I think he wanted to make it clear that he’s not a home squatter, because he’s not.”
When Will urged Jada to clarify what she meant by “entanglement,” she replied, “It was definitely a relationship.”
Jada continued, “I was in a lot of pain and very broken. During the process of that relationship I definitely realized that you can’t find happiness outside of yourself.’
The married couple sat across from each other as they talked about her 2020 fling
Several years later, at last year’s Oscars, Rock joked about Jada’s hair loss and commented that she looked like she was preparing for a role in a GI Jane sequel.
While Will Smith was originally seen laughing, when the cameras turned back to Rock, he marched onstage and punched the comedian in the face,
The actor then returned to his seat and began yelling at Rock from his table, chastising him with the now-infamous line “keep my wife’s name out of your fucking mouth!”
The artist went on to receive significant backlash from much of the entertainment industry for his performance at the awards show.
Smith was eventually banned from attending Academy-related events for 10 years.