The Wikipedia page for “Will Smith–Chris Rock slapping incident” has sections for “public apologies,” “alopecia awareness,” and “toxic masculinity and chivalry.” It’s been a wild ride, and it’s still going nearly a year later. In his Netflix comedy special, Rock called the King Richard Oscar winner “Suge Smith,” referring to Suge Knight, and claimed that he “took that hit like [Manny] Pacquiao.” The comedian also said that although he’s enjoyed many of Smith’s movies, “now I watch Emancipation just to see him get whooped.”
Emancipation — Smith’s Apple+ movie that was not the comeback he was hoping for — came up twice during the special, or at least it did if you watched it live. While discussing how Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith were upset with him for hosting the 2016 Oscars, Rock said, “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 piece of shit ever!” But that’s not the movie he meant. “No, not Emancipation, I f*cked up the joke,” Rock explained. He meant to call CTE football drama Concussion the big piece of sh*t.
As noted by Decider, “It appears that the mistake has since been edited out of the comedy special.” Here’s the original footage.
Chris Rock badly biffed his Will Smith Concussion joke pic.twitter.com/rSx9mF09u6
— Tommy moderna-vaX-Topher (@tommyxtopher) March 7, 2023
Boy, I really hope someone got slapped for that blunder.
(Via Decider)