A few days after Chris Rock’s Selective Outrage debuted, Netflix edited out a controversial Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith joke from the live-streamed special.
Just because the footage was erased doesn’t mean it’s gone forever.
In Netflix’s first-ever live-streamed comedy special, Rock let viewers in on what caused the rift between him and the Smith couple. Despite being a joke, his voice had a lot of rancor, mainly aimed at Pinkett Smith.
“Years ago, his wife said I should quit the Oscars, I shouldn’t host because her man didn’t get nominated for Emancipation,” the Grown Ups actor explained. He corrected himself later, stating that he meant Smith’s 2015 movie Concussion. “The biggest piece of s**t ever.”
He continued, “She f**king said, ‘He should quit ‘cuz Will didn’t get nominated for Concussion.’ What the f**k? What the f**k? So, then I do some jokes [her]. Who gives a f**k? That’s how it is. She starts it; I finish it. That’s what the f**k happened. Nobody’s picking on this b***h. She started this s**t.”
“She said me, a f**king grown a** man should quit his job ’cause her husband didn’t get nominated for Concussion. And then this n***a gives me a f**king concussion, OK?” He concluded.
Chris Rock badly biffed his Will Smith Concussion joke pic.twitter.com/rSx9mF09u6
— Tommy moderna-vaX-Topher (@tommyxtopher) March 7, 2023
Rock failed to realize or acknowledge in the joke that during that time when Pinkett Smith allegedly asked him not to host the Oscars, she was boycotting the Academy Awards because that year (for the second time), the award show had only white performers nominated in the four actor and actress categories.
She even posted a video explaining that she wouldn’t attend nor watch the award show. And at the end of the video, she left a positive message for Rock.
“Hey, Chris, I will not be at the Academy Awards, and I won’t be watching, but I can’t think of a better man to do the job at hand this year than you, my friend. Good luck,” she said.
During his opening monologue at the 2016 Oscars, Rock addressed the lack of Black nominees and attendees and revealed multiple people told him to quit the hosting gig as an act of protest. Rock told the audience he chose not to protest because he felt quitting wouldn’t do much.
He mentioned how decades ago, there weren’t Black nominees. Yet, the Black community didn’t protest because they were too focused on boycotting lynchings and rapings rather than “who won best cinematographer.”
He then went into criticizing Pinkett Smith for exercising her right to protest.
“Everybody went mad, you know. It’s quite like Jada got mad? Jada says she’s not coming. Protesting. I’m like, ‘Isn’t she on a TV show?’ Jada’s gonna boycott the Oscars? Jada boycotting the Oscars is like me boycotting Rihanna’s panties. I wasn’t invited.”
He continued, “Jada’s mad her man Will was not nominated for ‘Concussion.’ I get it. I get it. Tell you truth; I get it. You get mad. Said it’s not fair that Will was this good and didn’t get nominated. You’re right. It’s also not fair that Will was paid $20 million for ‘Wild Wild West,’ OK?”
