Even though a whole year has now passed since Will Smith slapped Chris Rock at the Academy Awards last year after he insulted his wife, Jada Pinkett-Smith, the general public still remembers it well and even thrives off bringing it back into conversation.
Netflix certainly hasn’t forgotten one of the most infamous moments in Oscars history because Rock turned his attention to the incident once again during his live special Selective Outrage, the title of which had also been inspired by Will Smith’s heavy hands.
During the show, Rock said, “Everybody who really knows, knows I had nothing to do with that shit. I didn’t have any ‘entanglements.’” Later, Rock really must have cut Smith down when he said, “His wife was fucking her son’s friend.” The show was the first time that Netflix had put on a live special of this kind, and it was viewed overall as a resounding success.
However, at one point in the show, Rock fluffed his lines. He 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 shit ever. Okay, so the n***a gives me a fuckin’ concussion. No, not Emancipation; I fucked up the joke. Concussion.”
Netflix subsequently pulled the bit from the broadcast, which is interesting because the show was meant to be the first solely live show on Netflix, but the decision to edit the fluffed joke meant that someone must have had their editorial hands on it.
A source around Smith says that he is annoyed once again that Rock is making jokes about his wife and further irritated that Netflix is getting involved with them. They said (per Hot New Hip Hop), “Will is also upset that Netflix was a part of this and thinks Chris insulting Jada again is below the belt. He is upset that Netflix gave Chris this platform to share these messages and thinks it’s distasteful.”