Chris Rock Messed Up His Will Smith Joke, And Netflix Edited It Out The Live "Selective Outrage" Special

1 year ago 9

Freudian slips and Freudian slaps.

The outrage wasn't the only thing "selective" in Chris Rock's latest Netflix special, Selective Outrage.

Gotham / GC Images

On March 4, the 58-year-old comedian released the special on Netflix, the streamer's first global live-streaming event.

Robert Kamau / GC Images

Chris joked about everything from cancel culture to the Kardashians and his relationship with his children. And, most notably, the special was the first time he fully addressed the infamous 2022 Oscars slap.

Neilson Barnard / Getty Images

If you remember, Will Smith walked onto the Oscars stage last March and slapped the comedian after he made an unscripted joke about Jada-Pinkett Smith's bald hairstyle due to her immune-related condition, alopecia. 

Honestly, none of the special's jokes stood out as unique until Chris reminded us that it was, in fact, a live event by flubbing his biggest joke of the night.

Neilson Barnard / Getty Images

Chris completely messed up while referencing an alleged conversation with Will and Jada over his 2016 Oscars hosting gig during the #OscarsSoWhite movement.

He originally shouted, “Years ago, his wife said I should quit the Oscars; I shouldn’t host ’cause her man didn’t get nominated for Emancipation, the biggest piece of shit ever!” And then he acknolwedged he screwed up. “No, not Emancipation, I fucked up the joke.”

Jamie Mccarthy / Getty Images for National Board of Review

He meant to reference Will Smith's 2015 sports drama Concussion, an unforgettable movie based on "Game Brain" Jeanne Marie Laskas' 2009 NFL exposé about chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE). 

Chris then corrected himself to reference the alleged conversation that ignited this feud, “She started this shit. She said that me, a fucking grown-ass man, should quit his job because, ‘My husband didn’t get nominated for Concussion.'"

Jesse D. Garrabrant / NBAE via Getty Images

But, when I talked about Chris's botched joke with a friend over dinner, I realized we both saw two different versions. Now viewers will only see an edited version of the joke without the error, making this special not-so-live anymore.

According to Entertainment Tonight, Will has responded to the special. A source close to ET said, “Will is embarrassed and hurt by what Chris said about him and his family in his Netflix special. He didn’t watch it, but he had people tell him what Chris said."

Mark Von Holden / Variety via Getty Images

"It’s everywhere when you look online and on social media, so Will and Jada have seen comments about it," they added.

Hopefully, after this year's 2023 Oscars ceremony, we can finally put the slap behind us and move onto other issues.

Nbc / ©NBC/Courtesy Everett Collection

Maybe we can return to the good ol' days when these two superstars got along and gave us comedic moments like this.

And besides, I'm more upset when Chris said in the Netflix special that he played a Zebra in Madagascar (true) and Will played a shark in Shark Tale (false). No, he did not. Jack Black was Lenny the shark, and Will was a wimpy fish named Oscar.

Dreamworks / ©DreamWorks/Courtesy Everett Collection

Y'all need to put some respect on Shark Tale's name.

Netflix should've edited out that mistake.

Read Entire Article