Chris Rock

Actress Janina Gavankar, a longtime friend of Meghan Markle, was present at the live taping of Chris Rock's Netflix show on Saturday night, ...

Rock imitated Markle's voice, saying she was "acting all dumb" like she didn't know anything. During his set, Rock mocked Markle's 2021 Oprah Winfrey interview, where she claimed an unknown royal had raised "concerns" about "how dark" their baby might be before their son, Archie, was born. Gavankar had reportedly been to previous shows where Rock had made similar comments about Markle and the royals, so she knew what to expect.

LOS ANGELES — A year after he was slapped on stage at the Academy Awards, Chris Rock hammered Will Smith and his wife in a comedy special streamed live ...

Netflix agreed to pay US$40 million (S$53 million) for two Rock comedy specials under a deal reached in 2016, according to a person familiar with the matter. The academy banned Smith from attending the Oscars for 10 years. Pinkett Smith said she was protesting the fact that Will Smith and other Black actors were not nominated. "Don't fight in front of white people." "I didn't have any entanglements," Rock said. The King Richard star returned to his seat in the audience and later won best actor.

Chris Rock took aim at Will Smith and his wife Jada Pinkett Smith in his latest stand-up comedy special, "Selective Outrage" mocking the couple's public ...

Almost a year later, Chris Rock is still seething about 'The Slap' and he told an audience how much he now despises Will and Jada Pinkett Smith.

I also loved his observation that the January 6, riots were "white men trying to overthrow the government...that they (already) run." Parts of the special seemed calibrated to tweak stereotypically liberal sensibilities, with Rock insisting, "Anybody that says 'Words hurt,' has never been punched in the face." For an hour, Rock held forth on an array of topics, some of which felt like they could have come from a special years ago – including jokes about the Kardashians, O.J. It was a dramatic end to a standup special that often felt less groundbreaking than the hype surrounding it suggested. On why the power of women's beauty gives them dominance over men: "Beyonce is so fine, that if she worked at Burger King, she could still marry Jay-Z. "I'm not a victim, baby...you will never see me on Oprah or Gayle crying," the comic said. One reason Smith may have been able to rebuild his image somewhat, is because Rock wasn't speaking publicly about the incident — so the guy who was slapped wasn't giving his perspective. "It still hurts." Eventually, he got the punchline out: "She said a grown a-- man should quit his job because [her husband] didn't get nominated for Concussion. Rock also said he was once a huge fan of Smith's, but the slap had him watching the actor's movies, like his Civil War-era drama Emancipation, much differently. A n---- he knows he can beat [up]." "They called his wife a predator...And who's he hit?

In a recent Netflix stand-up special, Chris Rock finally responded to Will Smith's physical assault on the Academy Awards stage a year ago.

“You’ve got to give it to the tech companies for inventing something that existed for decades,” said Chieng. He added that he was “still kind of processing what happened.” Rock said he didn’t physically retaliate at the Oscars because “I got parents.” 6698 and to get information about the [cookies](/static/privacy#cookiesEn)used on our website in accordance with the relevant legislation. In the aftermath of last year’s events, Smith resigned from his membership in the film academy. “How was your weekend?” he asked the crowd. If I’m in a movie getting open-heart surgery, I got on a sweater.” Rock has been touring new material in many performances for much of the past year as part of his Ego Death tour. Netflix added pre- and post-show bookends of star-studded live programming with, as host comedian Ronny Chieng said, “every comedy legend who owes Netflix a favor.” Bono lent an opening introduction. “Chris Rock: Selective Outrage,” streamed live from the Hippodrome Theatre in Baltimore, marked Netflix’s first foray into live streaming. I got ‘Summertime’ ringing in my ears.” This guy does movies with his shirt off,” said Rock.

The comedian said he "took that hit like Pacquiao."

He added that he was "still kind of processing what happened." Genius." "I did not have any entanglements," said Rock. "You've got to give it to the tech companies for inventing something that existed for decades," said Chieng. "Don't fight in front of white people." "And you know what my parents taught me?" "Now I watch 'Emancipation' just to see him get whooped." "I played Pookie in 'New Jack City.'" "You will never see me do a movie with my shirt off. "The last thing I need is another mad rapper." Everybody knows," Rock said. "Anybody who says words hurt hasn't been punched in the face."

With “Selective Outrage,” the comedy legend breaks his silence on Hollywood and his Oscars altercation with Will Smith.

The selective outrage that allows luxury brands to tout their anti-racism stance while using exploitative labor practices, and allows bad actors to shield themselves by co-opting the language of social justice. The severity of their actions may differ—blindly marrying into royalty is considerably less destructive than attempting to overthrow the government—but Rock’s targets are united by what he considers hypocrisy. “The last thing I need is another mad rapper,” he says as he ponders Snoop Dogg’s excess of endorsement deals and pokes fun at Jay-Z’s ability to attract a woman as sublime as Beyoncé.

The Will Smith–Chris Rock slapping incident took place during the 94th Academy Awards on 27 March 2022, when actor Will Smith walked onstage and slapped ...

I got 'Summertime' ringing in my ear," Chris Rock joked during his latest stand-up special on Netflix.

“We’ve all been cheated on,” Rock joked to the audience. Rock ridiculed Smith for taking his frustrations out on a smaller person (”Will Smith played Muhammad Ali. Smith was [banned from the Academy Awards for a decade,](https://www.instagram.com/p/CcGne-Qvd17/) and he has publicly apologized numerous times about his actions. “Will Smith practices selective outrage,” Rock joked. The comedian said he thinks the slap really had its origins between Smith and his wife, Jada Pinkett Smith, who had what she described as a romantic “entanglement” with singer August Alsina while the couple were separated. “I got ‘Summertime’ ringing in my ear.”

Chris Rock comedy special dey come one day before di 2023 Oscars wey Will Smith no go fit attend due to di slap kasala.

No fight for white pipo front." I dey hear Summer time dey ring for my ears," wey be Will Smith 1991 single. Any pesin wey tok dat one, dem neva puck am for face before".

In "Selective Outrage," comedian Chris Rock speaks for the first time about Will Smith's slap at the Oscars. Netflix earns big buzz with foray into live ...

“From a business perspective, Netflix is likely hoping to attract new subscribers or retain ones at risk of churning in a competitive streaming market,” she says. Expect to see a lot of chatter long after the live show has aired,” Ong says. [more live programming](https://www.forbes.com/sites/tonifitzgerald/2023/01/12/netflix-snags-the-sag-awards-are-sports-the-streamers-next-target/?sh=26ed47e41451) at all the streamers, including Netflix—sports, live events, music, festivals, etc. Online, people dissected Rock’s routine, which built up to addressing the Smith slap and ended once he’d said his piece. which means that the industry's poster child of innovation is actually going back in time to drive appointment viewing.” It drives differentiation, reaches broad audiences, and provides valuable IP [intellectual property] for their libraries,” says Linda Ong, CEO and founder of CULTIQUE, a strategic cultural advisory.

There were, of course, slap jokes in Rock's new show last night. Here's what he said, plus other highlights.

During the closing segment, Rock also responded to the vocal minority of people who bashed him for not retaliating in the moment. “Now, I watch Emancipation, just to see him get whupped.” “Will Smith played Muhammad Ali in a movie. “She hurt him way more than he hurt me,“ Rock said. Coming out to Baby Keem’s “Family Ties,” dressed in all white and commanding the stage with signature aplomb, Rock was clearly charged up. The comic also drew attention to the size disparity between himself and Smith, who is known for playing muscular action stars.

Chris Rock's Netflix comedy special 'Selective Outrage' aired live on March 3. Here are all the jokes he made about Will Smith and the 2022 Oscars slap.

“None of us have ever been interviewed by the person that cheated on us on television.” He added that he tried to call Smith to express his condolences during a time when everyone was calling him a bitch. The comedian claimed that he has rooted for Smith his whole life, but now watches [Emancipation](https://www.vulture.com/2022/11/will-smith-emancipation-trailer-release-date.html) and finds himself “rooting for massa” to hit Smith, who plays an escaped slave. According to Rock, no one was picking on Jada, who he feels actually “started this shit.” She previously called for a boycott of the 2016 Oscars due to a lack of diversity among nominees, which Rock characterized as her telling him to quit his job because her husband wasn’t nominated for his role in Concussion. [“entanglement”](http://www.vulture.com/2022/04/will-smith-jada-pinkett-smith-august-alsina-timeline.html) situation involving [August Alsina](https://www.vulture.com/2020/07/jada-pinkett-smith-august-alsina-red-table-talk.html) that was [dissected on Red Table Talk](https://www.vulture.com/2020/07/will-jada-pinkett-smith-red-table-talk-celebrity-relationships.html). “I got [‘Summertime’](https://www.vulture.com/2016/08/will-smith-sings-summertime.html) ringing in my ears.” Still, he insisted that he’s not a “victim” and will never cry on TV about it, adding that he “took that hit like [boxer Manny] Pacquiao.” The stand-up comedian has been testing material about Will Smith’s infamous slap out on tour for a while now, but his live [Netflix special Selective Outrage](http://www.vulture.com/article/chris-rock-selective-outrage-netflix-how-to-watch.html) was a chance to get those jokes in front of a wider audience.

A year after Will Smith slapped him at the Oscars, Rock responded fiercely in a new stand-up special, Netflix's first experiment in live entertainment.

Describing his jokes about Smith’s wife at the ceremony in 2016, he put it bluntly: “She started it. Here, he offers his theory on Will Smith, which is essentially that the slap was an act of displacement, shifting his anger from his wife cheating on him and broadcasting it onto Rock. The way his fury became directed at Pinkett Smith makes you wonder if this was also a kind of displacement. “She hurt him way more than he hurt me,” Rock said, using his considerable powers of description to describe the humiliation of Smith in a manner that seemed designed to do it again. There’s a comic nastiness to Rock’s insults, some of which is studied, but other times appeared to be the product of his own bottled-up anger. But here, he follows one of his most polished and funny jokes, comparing the dating prospects of Jay-Z and Beyoncé if they weren’t stars but worked at Burger King, with a long, sustained section on the Oscars that closes the show. Through a combination of razzle dazzle and Rolodex spinning, the streaming service packaged this special more like a major sporting event than a special, a star-studded warm-up act to the Oscars next week. “And now,” he added, pausing before referencing the new movie in which Smith plays an enslaved man, “I watch ‘Emancipation’ just to see him get whooped.” His jokes about Meghan Markle are very funny, mocking her surprise that the royal family is racist, terming them its originators, the “Sugarhill Gang of racism.” It messed up his momentum, but the trade-off might have been worth it, since the flub added an electric spontaneity and unpredictability that was a drawing card. HBO Max releasing that in the last week was its own counterprogramming. Normally, such an error would have been edited out, but since this was the first live global event in the history of Netflix, Rock could only stop, call attention to it and tell the joke again.

Comedian and actor Chris Rock has spoken out about being hit by Will Smith at last year's Academy Awards ceremony. “I'm a not a victim, baby,” Rock said, ...

“I did not have any entanglements,” Rock said during Saturday’s special. Pinkett Smith, the host of Facebook’s Red Table Talk, has been vocal about her struggles with alopecia, an auto-immune disease that causes hair loss. You will never see it. “You will never see me on Oprah or Gayle crying. “I love Will Smith,” Rock added. “I’m a not a victim, baby,” Rock said, who called Smith “Suge Smith,” a reference to notorious, hip-hop mogul Suge Knight.

'Nobody's picking on her – she started this s***,' comedy star said.

Rock ended his big Netflix special Selective Outrage by insisting that Jada Pinkett Smith is worse than the Oscars slap.

Rock then explained why he didn’t do anything back to Smith that night at the Oscars: “Cause I got parents. [Will Smith slapping him](https://www.avclub.com/chris-rock-will-smith-jada-pinkett-smith-oscars-slap-1848710405), but he made it clear that any problems he has are not with Will Smith; they’re with Jada Pinkett Smith. “Everybody in the world called him a bitch… [as everyone assumed](https://www.avclub.com/here-are-the-will-smith-jokes-chris-rock-is-testing-for-1850186515), the comedian used a good chunk of it to talk about getting slapped by Will Smith onstage at the 2022 Oscars. Simpson, Meghan Markle (he joked about the royal family being the original racists, but still came around to that being her fault), and the Kardashians. He also noted that he’s so pro-abortion that he’s paid for more abortions than any woman in the room.

Almost a year later, Chris Rock is still seething about 'The Slap' and he told an audience how much he now despises Will and Jada Pinkett Smith.

I also loved his observation that the January 6, riots were "white men trying to overthrow the government...that they (already) run." Parts of the special seemed calibrated to tweak stereotypically liberal sensibilities, with Rock insisting, "Anybody that says 'Words hurt,' has never been punched in the face." For an hour, Rock held forth on an array of topics, some of which felt like they could have come from a special years ago – including jokes about the Kardashians, O.J. It was a dramatic end to a standup special that often felt less groundbreaking than the hype surrounding it suggested. On why the power of women's beauty gives them dominance over men: "Beyonce is so fine, that if she worked at Burger King, she could still marry Jay-Z. "I'm not a victim, baby...you will never see me on Oprah or Gayle crying," the comic said. One reason Smith may have been able to rebuild his image somewhat, is because Rock wasn't speaking publicly about the incident — so the guy who was slapped wasn't giving his perspective. "It still hurts." Eventually, he got the punchline out: "She said a grown a-- man should quit his job because [her husband] didn't get nominated for Concussion. Rock also said he was once a huge fan of Smith's, but the slap had him watching the actor's movies, like his Civil War-era drama Emancipation, much differently. A n---- he knows he can beat [up]." "They called his wife a predator...And who's he hit?

Chris Rock took a dig at Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith's 'entanglement' scandal during his live Netflix special.

our experiences of working through it, fighting through it, talking through it and therapizing through it — I think that the ‘Why now?’ is weird.” “There’s no way around it.” “Everybody in the world called him a b—. That is some b—ass s—.” “I think it could feel weird for people that we’re laughing and talking about it,” Smith said at the time. [Jada Pinkett Smith confirms August Alsina relationship while she and Will were split](https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/story/2020-07-10/jada-pinkett-smith-will-smith-august-alsina-red-table-talk) None of us have ever been interviewed by the person that cheated on us on television. Parental advice be damned, Rock certainly got back at Smith during last night’s stand-up set by tapping rich, tabloid-sustaining headlines and rubbing salt in old wounds. “A lot of people say, ‘Chris, how come you didn’t do nothing back?’” Rock said during the special. (Rock briefly confused the two movies while workshopping some fresh anti-Smith material on Saturday.) “‘Cause I got parents. Everybody in here’s been cheated on.

A year after Will Smith smacked him on the Academy Awards stage, Chris Rock finally gave his rebuttal in a forceful stand-up special, streamed live on ...

The academy board of governors [banned Smith from the Oscars](https://apnews.com/article/will-smith-oscars-ban-664346ac2d2441939764f35be2d8026b) and all other academy events for a decade. “You’ve got to give it to the tech companies for inventing something that existed for decades,” said Chieng. He added that he was “still kind of processing what happened.” [the March 12 Oscars,](https://apnews.com/hub/academy-awards) where the slap is sure to revisited by this year’s host, Jimmy Kimmel. Rock said the reason why he didn’t physically retaliate at the Oscars was because “I got parents.” “I did not have any entanglements,” said Rock. “How was your weekend?” he asked the crowd. Netflix added pre- and post-show bookends of star-studded live programming with, as host comedian Ronny Chieng said, “every comedy legend who owes Netflix a favor.” Bono lent a opening introduction. The comedian on Saturday referenced Pinkett Smith’s earlier confessions of having an “entanglement” with another man while married. Rock, who also riffed on how he’d respond if his father transitioned to a woman (he would support him, Rock said), made clear “Selective Outrage” was not going to be just a Will Smith show. If I’m in a movie getting open-heart surgery, I got on a sweater.” I got ‘Summertime’ ringing in my ears.”

In his live Netflix comedy special over the weekend, Chris Rock finally addressed the Will Smith Oscars slap drama. He told the audience...

He said, "I got parents! A ni**a he know he can beat, that is some bi**h a** sh*t." View this post on Instagram

A year after Chris Rock was slapped in response to a joke he made about Will Smith's wife, the comedian is finally ready to talk about it.

While it provided a suitably pithy ending to the special, it also offered a glimpse of what could have been, had Rock talked a bit more about what it means to be a Black man beneath the crushing glare of the spotlight. In Rock’s view, the cause of the slap was Smith’s misdirected anger over his wife’s affair with musician August Alsina, and the humiliation of it becoming public knowledge. “The last thing I need is another mad rapper,” he says as he ponders Snoop Dogg’s excess of endorsement deals and pokes fun at Jay-Z’s ability to attract a woman as sublime as Beyoncé. A shock to viewers of the broadcast, the altercation overshadowed the night’s winners and completely shattered the facade of awards-season camaraderie. Smith’s experiences post-slap have been well documented—the actor has since released a public apology, undergone a formal inquiry by the Academy, and received a decade-long ban from the ceremony for his conduct—but Rock, a master of the comeback, has remained mum. It’s been nearly a year since Smith interrupted Rock’s presentation of best documentary feature by storming the stage and striking him across the face in response to a joke directed at Smith’s wife, Jada Pinkett Smith.

KUALA LUMPUR, Mar 6 — Actor Chris Rock definitely did not keep Will Smith's wife's name out of his mouth this time. In a recently streamed Netflix special, ...

What a little you-know-what.” He can say whatever he wants.” “Smith assaulted him.

In his new Netflix Special, Chris Rock: Selective Outrage, the comedian took a direct dig at the royal family and Meghan Markle's claims of racism.

Prince Harry and Meghan tied the knot on May 19, 2018, and have two children -- Archie and Lilibet. They're the Sugarhill Gang of racism. They're the OGs of racism. It's the royal family, they're the original racists. It's so hard, it's very hard — but it ain't as hard as a white girl trying to be accepted by her Black in-laws. (Also read: [Chris Rock on Will Smith's Oscars slap in Netflix special: ‘I’m not a victim baby, you will never see me on Oprah...'](https://www.hindustantimes.com/entertainment/hollywood/chris-rock-on-will-smith-s-oscars-slap-in-netflix-special-i-m-not-a-victim-baby-101678001986669.html))

You'll laugh even as you're offended by Chris Rock's live Netflix special 'Selective Outrage.'

Whether or not you buy his theories about how men are, or women are, or what makes a good relationship, or what ails the country, or even accept the premises from which he draws his conclusions, and whether or not this was his finest hour (and eight minutes) of television, Rock remains worth listening to, because there’s nothing casual about what he does, and most important, he knows how to craft and sell a joke. Where “Tamborine” found the comic in a relatively intimate setting with the audience nearly at his feet, engaging in a more modulated, reflective style of delivery, “Selective Outrage” came across as a rough-edged bid to regain old fire; he pumped up the volume, prowled the stage, charging his text with repeated words and phrases like a revival preacher, both to hammer out a point and to make music. When Rock finally got to the Slap, in the special’s last minutes, he certainly leaned into it. And as in a sporting event, there was an element of unpredictability to “Selective Outrage,” even of danger, the possibility that the comedian would have to be carried off the field, figuratively speaking. Some of his targets were strangely inessential: Going after Meghan Markle for not understanding that she’d encounter racism among the royal family, felt mean and like a waste of breath, and the Kardashians, even if super-glued into popular culture, are the day before yesterday’s news. This is Rock’s sixth special, and that the previous five were produced in the usual manner has proved no impediment to his career.

There were, of course, Will Smith jokes in Chris Rock's new Netflix show. Here's what he said about the 2022 Oscars slap, plus all of the other highlights.

During the closing segment, Rock also responded to the vocal minority of people who bashed him for not retaliating in the moment. “Will Smith played Muhammad Ali in a movie. “Now, I watch Emancipation, just to see him get whupped.” “She hurt him way more than he hurt me,“ Rock said. Coming out to Baby Keem’s “Family Ties,” dressed in all white and commanding the stage with signature aplomb, Rock was clearly charged up. The comic also drew attention to the size disparity between himself and Smith, who is known for playing muscular action stars.

Chris Rock has taken aim at Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith, almost a year to the day that Smith slapped Chris Rock at the 2022 Oscars.

[Smith shocked social media fans by making a joke about the Chris Rock Oscars slap](https://www.cityam.com/will-smith-shocks-by-making-joke-about-chris-rock-oscars-slap/). “And for people that don’t know what everybody know(s)… Rock added: “Everybody in here [has] been cheated on. “Cause everybody knows what the f— happened. Now, I normally would not talk about this s— but for some reason, these n—– put that s— on the Internet.” Everybody that really knows, knows I had nothing to do with that s—.

Almost a year later, Chris Rock is still seething about 'The Slap' and he told an audience how much he now despises Will and Jada Pinkett Smith.

I also loved his observation that the January 6, riots were "white men trying to overthrow the government...that they (already) run." Parts of the special seemed calibrated to tweak stereotypically liberal sensibilities, with Rock insisting, "Anybody that says 'Words hurt,' has never been punched in the face." For an hour, Rock held forth on an array of topics, some of which felt like they could have come from a special years ago – including jokes about the Kardashians, O.J. It was a dramatic end to a standup special that often felt less groundbreaking than the hype surrounding it suggested. On why the power of women's beauty gives them dominance over men: "Beyonce is so fine, that if she worked at Burger King, she could still marry Jay-Z. "I'm not a victim, baby...you will never see me on Oprah or Gayle crying," the comic said. One reason Smith may have been able to rebuild his image somewhat, is because Rock wasn't speaking publicly about the incident — so the guy who was slapped wasn't giving his perspective. "It still hurts." Eventually, he got the punchline out: "She said a grown a-- man should quit his job because [her husband] didn't get nominated for Concussion. Rock also said he was once a huge fan of Smith's, but the slap had him watching the actor's movies, like his Civil War-era drama Emancipation, much differently. A n---- he knows he can beat [up]." "They called his wife a predator...And who's he hit?

Chris Rock slammed businesses for attempting to embrace woke culture in his new Netflix special 'Selective Outrage.' See what he said about Lululemon and ...

Rock's reported [net worth is about $60 million](https://www.celebritynetworth.com/richest-celebrities/richest-comedians/chris-rock-net-worth/). Me." [poor](https://ew.com/tv/chris-rock-daughter-kicked-out-school-selective-outrage/)." To illustrate his point, he called out people typing their criticism tweets "on a phone made by child[ren]." Now, if somebody wants your job, they just wait for you to say some dumb s**t," he said within the first couple minutes of his set. [Hollywood Reporter](https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-news/chris-rock-sets-netflix-stand-938106/).

A year after Will Smith smacked him on the Academy Awards stage, Chris Rock finally gave his rebuttal in a forceful stand-up special, streamed live on ...

“You’ve got to give it to the tech companies for inventing something that existed for decades,” said Chieng. He added that he was “still kind of processing what happened.” Rock said the reason why he didn’t physically retaliate at the Oscars was because “I got parents.” “I did not have any entanglements,” said Rock. “How was your weekend?” he asked the crowd. Netflix added pre- and post-show bookends of star-studded live programming with, as host comedian Ronny Chieng said, “every comedy legend who owes Netflix a favor.” Bono lent a opening introduction. The comedian on Saturday referenced Pinkett Smith’s earlier confessions of having an “entanglement” with another man while married. This guy does movies with my shirt off,” said Rock. I got `Summertime’ ringing in my ears.” If I’m in a movie getting open-heart surgery, I got on a sweater.” Everybody knows,” Rock said. Only occasionally did Rock’s material dovetail with the 2022 Oscars, like it did when Rock joked about the oddity of Snoop Dogg becoming such a venerated pitch man for advertisers.

Chris Rock at the Hippodrome Theater in Baltimore. The problem with “Selective Outrage,” Chris Rock's new Netflix special, is that much of the material feels ...

The problem with the new special is that much of the material feels like mere pretense, a half-thought prelude to the evening’s main draw, which has been strategically left for the end—the better to retain a rubbernecking viewership. Meanwhile, a white C student just happens to be the President of the United States.” From “Selective Outrage”: “Beyoncé is so fine that if she worked at Burger King she could still marry Jay-Z. The weakness of “Selective Outrage” lies not just in the spectre of obsolescence that looms over certain aging comedians these days. Dating women “his age”—that is, women at least a decade younger than his fifty-eight years, he clarifies—takes maintenance. Gushing about his new job, a friend tells Rock that he feels “seen” and “heard.” Rock scrunches his face. He takes us on a tour of the topical—more (Ukraine, Elon Musk) and less so (Caitlyn Jenner, the attention economy)—and the eternal (miscegenation, O. What, you think I’m wearing a wire or some shit?’ ” Rock smirks at the anti-hate signposting of an upscale brand like Lululemon: “They sell hundred-dollar yoga pants. He had the assistance of guests such as Arsenio Hall and [Leslie Jones](https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2021/09/27/glam-room-dish-with-leslie-jones), who were there, as Chieng said, to “emphasize how live we are right now” and to rain hosannas on Rock—“You are the shit,” Jones said. Somebody else does the exact same thing: nothing.” The “N” lands with a guttural thud. His last special, “ [Tamborine](https://www.newyorker.com/culture/cultural-comment/watching-chris-rock-and-america-fumble-toward-transformation),” also released by Netflix, came out in 2018, and besides a starring turn in the fourth season of Fargo it’s been a minute since we’ve seen him on the proverbial marquee. “You never know who might get triggered.” Yeah, yeah, sure, “words hurt,” he parrots, but—“anybody that says ‘Words hurt’ has never been punched in the face.” Here is his first coy reference to we-all-know-what. First, “Selective Outrage” has a thesis, which Rock puts forth early on in the set.

Comedian shares thoughts on being hit by Will Smith at Oscars.

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In a new Netflix special, the comedian finally let loose about Will Smith. The moment was fascinating, angry, and raw.

Directed by Bo Burnham and filmed at the Brooklyn Academy of Music, it was introspective and intimate, delving into the dissolution of his marriage and his mistakes as a partner. A whole segment about the Kardashians felt a little warmed-over, while an incredulous run about Meghan Markle’s professed surprise at the institutional racism of British monarchy was far funnier and more inventive (he pronounced the royals the “Sugarhill Gang of racism”). [get to the fireworks factory](https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/get_to_the_fireworks_factory#:~:text=(fandom%20slang%2C%20idiomatic)%20To,important%20part%20of%20a%20storyline.),” to quote a memorable Simpsons line. At one point, he fumbled a line, naming the wrong Smith movie (Emancipation) for a joke that was centered on another (Concussion). Indeed, the most fascinating aspect of Rock’s new special, Selective Outrage, was the fact that it aired live on Netflix Saturday night—an attempt to tap into the immediacy of onstage comedy in a time when audiences can choose their evening’s entertainment from a hefty menu. [bizarre interviews](https://variety.com/2020/tv/news/jada-pinkett-august-alsina-affair-red-table-talk-1234703531/) that Smith and his wife, Jada Pinkett Smith, did about their relationship in the years before Smith’s Oscar win.

Nearly one year after the infamous slap, comedian Chris Rock performs Netflix's first live show. Did it live up to the hype?

[Someone] he knows he can beat.” Then there were more jokes aimed at the “Emancipation” star and his wife, a Baltimore native who didn’t appear to have any hometown fans at the Hippodrome on Saturday night. Then there was the long list of things that made it difficult to concentrate on the actual punchlines. on the internet,” Rock said, as the crowd was sent over the edge. “It felt like an opportunity to participate as a community,” said Smith. “They coming for him,” whispered a woman to her friends, certain that another fan was on his way out the door. It didn’t seem to matter much how tired some of the material felt. “Someone could like transmit a signal or something.” What in the Mission: Impossible? A middle-aged man in a Crocodile Dundee hat and low-hanging plumber jeans could not control the occasional urge to lift his T-shirt up over his stomach. “Sit down,” demanded Rock from the stage as the audience, all too happy to be rid of this outlier, cheered. Nary a joke had been told or celebrity score settled (more on that later), but the crowd was Rock’s to lose from the second the 58-year-old comedian and actor stepped foot on the stage. Instead, it was a on-the-nose set full of some good jokes, some major whiffs — until, of course, he finally got to the slap for about eight minutes. A mix of walking down the aisle and birthday shenanigans.