Chris Rock Slams Will Smith's Slap In Newest Stand-Up Special

gamerant.com:

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 Outrage has him unleashing some of that understandable pent-up anger in ways already generating an extremely divisive reaction. The Oscars incident damaged Will Smith's career, but it remains to be seen if the special does the same to Rock.

Will Smith's 9 Most Iconic Roles

The first hour of Selective Outrage doesn'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 discussing the 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 in Ali with his roles as Pookie in New Jack City and «a piece of corn» in Pootie 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 «f***ing her son's friend» before saying he has «no idea why two talented people would do something that f***ing lowdown.» Jada Pinkett Smith has already clarified she wishes her husband hadn't slapped Rock, so further burns could read as purely mean-spirited.

In Rock's defence, he does