What did Chris Rock say about Will Smith slap in Netflix special?

Nearly a year after it happened, Chris Rock has spoken about Will Smith slapping him in the face at the Ocsars, with the comedian cracking jokes about the incident in a new Netflix comedy special.

Last March, Chris Rock made an off-color joke about Jada Pinkett-Smith during the Academy Awards. In response, her husband Will Smith jumped onstage, and slapped Rock in the face.

The audience was shocked. The world was stunned. And the fallout was huge, with everyone seeming to have an opinion on what came to be known as ‘The Slap.’

Smith won the Oscar for Best Actor later in the evening, but was eventually banned from all Academy events for 10 years. But aside from the odd comment, Rock was uncharacteristically quiet on the subject. Until now.

What did Chris Rock say about Will Smith slap?

On March 4, 2023, Chris Rock launched a new comedy special entitled ‘Selective Outrage’ on Netflix. The show is described as “an electric stand-up set on non-racist yoga pants, spoiling his kids, the Kardashians, and his thoughts on the Will Smith fiasco.”

He takes his time getting there, hinting at ‘The Slap’ early in proceedings with: “They say, ‘words hurt.’ Anybody who says ‘words hurt’ has never been punched in the face.”

Then later in the concert he confronts the incident head-on, saying: “You all know what happened to me, getting smacked by Suge Smith. Everybody knows. Everybody f**king knows. I got smacked like a year ago… and people are like, ‘Did it hurt?’ It still hurts. I got ‘Summertime’ ringing in my ears.”

Chris Rock: “I am not a victim”

Rock than goes on to state that he is no victim, saying: “You will never see me on Oprah or Gayle [King] crying. You will never see it… It’s never going to happen. F**k that s**t, I took that s**t like [former boxer Manny] Pacquiao.”

Rock also compares their respective acting careers in relation to the assault, saying: “Will Smith is significantly bigger than me. We are not the same size. Will Smith does movies with his shirt off. You’ve never seen me do a movie with my shirt off. Will Smith played Muhammad Ali in a movie. You think I auditioned for that part? I played Pookie in New Jack City. I played a piece of corn in Pootie Tang.”

He says he called Will after the incident but Smith didn’t pick up. Then continues the tirade by brining up the ‘Red Table Talk’ episode that got personal between Will and Jada, stating: “Everybody in here been cheated on. None of us has ever been interviewed by the person that cheated on us… on television. She hurt him way more than he hurt me.”

“Don’t fight in front of white people!”

Rock ends the special with a jab at Smith’s new movie Emancipation, saying: “I love Will Smith, my whole life… he makes great movies. I have rooted for Will Smith my whole life. I root for this motherf**ker. And now I watch Emancipation just to see him get whooped.”

Then finally explains why he didn’t hit back, stating: “Because I got parents. I was raised. And you know what my parents taught me? Don’t fight in front of white people.”

Chris Rock: Selective Outrage is now streaming on Netflix.