Chris Rock Is Finally Going to Publicly Confront Will Smith’s Oscars Slap in a Netflix Special

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This weekend, Netflix will stream its first live broadcast. What better way to celebrate than with Chris Rock finally addressing the Will Smith Oscars slap?

About a year has passed since Smith interrupted Rock’s hosting duties and smacked him in the face for making a joke about Jada Pinkett-buzzed Smith’s head.

Remember this?

Will Smith slaps Chris Rock on stage during the 94th Academy Awards. Credit: REUTERS / Alamy  Stock Photo

Smith and the rest of the audience laughed when Rock casually referred to Jada as “G.I. Jane” in a passing comment.

Rock was warned to “keep [his] wife’s name out of [his] f***ing lips” by the Hitch actor, who had just joined Rock on stage.

The consequences were severe, and Smith’s resignation from the Academy and a ten-year Oscars ban were just two of them.

Rock and Smith exchanged public apologies five months after the slap, but despite Rock’s brief mention of the incident in his stand-up routine, he has never gone into further detail or expressed his public forgiveness for Smith.

Rock is now prepared to confront the slap directly in a test pilot for Netflix’s first live stream.

The timing couldn’t be better though, with the stream scheduled to begin exactly one week before the 2019 Academy Oscars, which will undoubtedly feature its fair share of jokes about slaps from host Jimmy Kimmel.

Last year, during a global tour with Dave Chappelle, both Rock and Chappelle took turns making fun of Smith.

Rock responded, “I got smacked by the softest n**** that ever rapped,” when Chappelle said, “At least you got smacked by someone of renown.”

It’s unclear how much of Rock’s hour-long Netflix performance, which was broadcast live from Baltimore’s Hippodrome Theatre, will be about the Smith incident.

Smith incident

Vice President of stand-up and comedy formats at Netflix, Robbie Praw, commented on the impending special by saying: “Watching live on Netflix represents a huge transformation in the construct that we have with our members.”

Praw just said that the fact that Rock’s comedy special aired just one week before the Oscars was a coincidence.

When the technology was ready and when Chris felt ready were the main determining factors, he claimed.

On Saturday, March 4, at 10 p.m. ET/3 a.m. GMT, Netflix will broadcast Chris Rock’s live-stream event.

Praw just said that the fact that Rock’s comedy special aired just one week before the Oscars was a coincidence.

When the technology was ready and when Chris felt ready were the main determining factors, he claimed.

“I know you want a more entertaining response than that, but that’s truly what it came down to,” the speaker said.

On Saturday, March 4, at 10 p.m. ET/3 a.m. GMT, Netflix will broadcast Chris Rock’s live-stream event.

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