A year after being slapped, Chris Rock Strikes Back in a new special

WASHINGTON. A year after being slapped by Will Smith on stage at the Oscars, Chris Rock finally delivered his rebuttal in a poignant performance broadcast live on Netflix in which the comedian boasted that he “stood that punch, like Pacquiao.”

On Saturday night, the 58-year-old comedian performed his first special stand-up performance since last year’s Oscars. Streaming live from the Hippodrome Theater in Baltimore, Chris Rock: Selective Outrage was Netflix’s first foray into live streaming.

Rock, performing in all white and wearing a prince’s medallion around his neck, immediately touched on last year’s Oscars, joking about “wakefulness,” hypersensitivity, and what he called “selective outrage.”

“You never know who you can provoke,” Rock said. “Anyone who utters words that hurt has not yet been punched in the face.”

But then Rock moved on to a range of broad topics dealing with contemporary issues, including virtue signals, expensive yoga pants, the Duchess of Sussex, the Kardashian family, abortion rights, the Capitol riot, and what he called America’s biggest addition: attention.

“We used to want love, now we just want likes,” Rock said.

Rock, who also joked about how he would react if his father moved on to a woman (he would support him, Rock said), made it clear that “Selective Outrage” would not just be a Will Smith show. Only occasionally did Rock’s material coincide with the 2022 Oscars, like when The Rock joked about the weirdness of Snoop Dogg becoming such a revered advertiser for advertisers.

“I don’t diss Snoop,” Rock said. “The last thing I need is another crazy rapper.”

But an hour into the show, The Rock ended the special with a flood of footage of the infamous Oscars moment.

“You all know what happened to me when Shug Smith hit me. Everyone knows,” Rock said. – It still hurts. “Summertime” is ringing in my ears.

While Smith has apologized and spoken out about the incident on numerous occasions since last March, The Rock has avoided all the usual venues where celebrities often go to express their feelings. He has never dated Oprah Winfrey and turned down many media outlets who would like an exclusive in-depth interview.

“I’m not a victim, baby,” Rock said. “You never see me cry on Oprah or Gail. You will never see it. Will never happen.”

But The Rock used his meeting with Smith to shape and spice up his second stand-up for Netflix. Some of his best material was on their physical differences.

“We are not the same size. This guy is in movies without my shirt on,” Rock said. “You will never see me shirtless in a movie. If I’m filming a movie when I’m having open heart surgery, I wear a sweater.”

“He played Muhammad Ali,” Rock added. “I played Pooky in New Jack City.

Ultimately, Rock suggested that he had just been caught in the crossfire in Smith’s relationship with his wife, Jada Pinkett-Smith. It was a joke Rock told about Pinkett Smith that prompted Smith to come on stage and punch Rock. The comedian on Saturday referred to Pinkett Smith’s earlier confessions of “entanglement” with another man while she was married.

“I didn’t have any entanglements,” Rock said. “She hurt him more than he hurt me.”

“I love Will Smith,” Rock added. “Now I watch Emancipation just to see how he gets outraged.”

Before dropping the microphone and raising his hands in triumph, The Rock left the crowd with one last joking tone. The Rock said the reason he didn’t get back physically at the Oscars was because “I have parents”.

“Do you know what my parents taught me? He said. “Don’t fight in front of white people.”

Netflix added pre- and post-screening live-action star-studded booklets that, as lead comedian Ronnie Chieng said, “every comedy legend owes a debt to Netflix.” Bono delivered the opening remarks. show. Paul McCartney, Tracey Morgan, Adam Sandler, Jerry Seinfeld and last year’s Oscar host Wanda Sykes added pre-recorded messages.

For much of the past year, Rock has been touring with new material in a long string of performances on his Ego Death tour. The shows, which were announced prior to the 2022 Oscars, featured Dave Chappelle and Kevin Hart.

On the road, Rock often worked in jokes and musings about the slap. The Rock first broke his public silence over the slap three days after last year’s Oscars in Boston. “How was your weekend?” he asked the crowd. He added that he is “still sort of processing what happened.”

After much processing, The Rock is back in the cultural spotlight just a week before the Oscars on March 12, where this year’s host Jimmy Kimmel is sure to return for the slap. After last year’s events, Smith resigned from the film academy. The academy board of governors banned Smith from the Oscars and all other academic events for ten years.

At the annual Nominees Dinner last month, Academy President Janet Young expressed regret over the way the incident was handled, calling the academy’s response “inadequate.” Bill Cramer, the academy’s chief executive, said the academy has since established a crisis communications team to prepare for and respond to unforeseen events more quickly.

Selective Outrage is The Rock’s second Netflix special, following 2018’s Tamborine.

As new as Netflix’s live “Selective Outrage” was, it was hard not to notice a few familiar things about it.

“You have to give tech companies credit for inventing something that has been around for decades,” Chieng said. We’re doing a comedy show on Saturday night… live. Genius”.