American actor Chris Rock speaks onstage during the 94th Annual Academy Awards at the Dolby Theater in Hollywood, California in this file photo taken on March 27, 2022. Chris Rock finally hit back at Will Smith in a brutal stand-up routine on March 4, 2023, a year after the actor beat him for the Oscars in front of a worldwide television audience.
Photo: AFP – ROBYN BECK
In March 2022, Will Smith took to the stage at the Oscars to meet the comedian Chris Rock The Hollywood star became famous after a joke he made about his wife’s short hair Jada Pinkett-Smithwho suffers from alopecia. Minutes later, Smith received the Oscar for Best Actor for “the Williams method“.
He later apologized to Rock, but was sidelined from the Oscars (which take place on March 12 this year) for a decade.
The comedian has not filed any complaints and has largely remained silent about the incident. But last weekend, at a show in Baltimore, Rock retaliated by accusing Smith of engaging in “selective outrage” and saying the actor was upset that his wife cheated on him.
We recommend: The best films in history, according to Martin Scorsese
“People ask me ‘did it hurt?’ It still hurts,” he added. “Will Smith is quite a bit taller than me. Will Smith was acting Muhammad Ali in a movie. Do you think I auditioned for that role?”
The comedian also explained that Smith was teased after an episode of his wife’s podcast in which the couple discussed the “affair” and how it affected him. “Why did he do that?” the comedian wondered, insisting that Smith was insulted and his wife called a “slut” and a “predator” after the podcast. He added that he tried to express his condolences to Smith after this infidelity became public.
This might interest you: The animations nominated for “Best Short Film”.
Rock pointed out that Pinkett Smith’s animosity toward him arose a few years earlier when she urged him to boycott the Oscars because her husband wasn’t nominated for the 2015 film The Hidden Truth. “She said that a grown man should quit his job because the husband wasn’t nominated for ‘Concussion.’ Then (Smith) hits me,” he joked. “What the hell? Was I joking about it? Who cares? That’s the way things are; she starts, I finish.”
Rock said he always loved Smith before the slap, first as a rapper and then as an actor. “He’s made some great films. I’ve supported Will Smith my entire life,” but now he said he supports the slave owner who blasts Smith’s character in his latest film, Emancipation.
Read more from the world of entertainment 📀🎞️🎤.