Chris Rock and Will Smith in 2005 Photo: Mark Mainz (Getty Images)
Chris Rock has a new comedy special on Netflix this weekend, a rare live streaming event for the video company. The stream will be Rock’s biggest public appearance since, well, his last – ie his stint as host at the 2022 Academy Awards, when eventual Best Actor winner Will Smith took the stage and slapped the comedian after he was done Jokes about his wife Jada Pinkett-Smith. And while Rock has been relatively quiet about “The Slap” for the past several years, it’s also been pretty clear that it was as much about preserving potential material as anything else, telling audiences last March that he was ” still kind of processing” the event.
That processing appears to be complete, however, as multiple outlets are reporting leaked jokes Rock tried out in front of audiences in shows ahead of the Netflix special. And no, in case you’re wondering, Rock doesn’t seem to be in a particularly forgiving and forgetting mood.
Per The Wall Street Journal: “The thing people want to know…did it hurt?” Hell yes, it hurt. He played Muhammad Ali! I played Pookie (in New Jack City). Even in animation I’m a zebra, he’s a friggin’ shark.” CNN reported that Rock also said, “Will Smith’s a big guy. I’m not. Will Smith doesn’t wear a shirt in his films. If you see me in a movie having open-heart surgery, I’ll put on a sweater.” And of course, there’s a widely shared part where Rock says he saw Smith’s film Emancipation “just so I could watch how he was flogged”. (That says nothing of Rock’s treatment of Jada Pinkett Smith; though he apparently didn’t mention her by name — apparently in a nod to Smith’s screams, “Keep my wife’s name out of your mouth” at the Oscars — he apparently brought up “Will Smith’s woman” and revealing the couple’s open marriage in a derogatory manner.)
Anyhow, it’s not clear how much of this footage will appear in the Netflix special, which goes live on the service on the evening of Friday, March 4 at 10:00 p.m. EST. But if you’re wondering if Rock will address the elephant in the room: Absolutely. And it doesn’t sound like he’s pulling any punches.
[via Huffpost]