Chris Rock's 2016 joke about Jada Pinkett Smith resurfaces after Netflix comedy special airs
As comedian Chris Rock hits back at Will Smith in his latest comedy special, a joke made about the actor’s wife, Jada Pinkett Smith, back in 2016 has resurfaced.
The controversial skit has gone viral again after viewers streamed Rock’s latest Netflix show, Selective Outrage, where he also addresses last year’s infamous Oscars slap.
After the Netflix special became available yesterday, many fans of the comic have been sharing the resurfaced moment alongside snippets from last year’s Academy Awards Ceremony.
Advert
During perhaps one of the most viral and talked-about moments of 2022, Will Smith infamously got on stage during Rock's hosting and slapped him across the face when he made a joke about Pinkett Smith's alopecia, before shouting: "Keep my wife’s name out your f**king mouth."
Though he’d been nominated for his performance in King Richard, the Fresh Prince actor was swiftly removed after collecting his award.
And despite going on to issue a public apology to Rock in the days following the drama, Smith was given a ban for 10 years from attending the Oscars.
Well, a year on in his new Netflix special, Rock has roasted the couple about the moment and joked that ‘it still hurt’.
Performing in Pinkett Smith’s hometown of Baltimore, he told the crowd: “I love Will Smith, my whole life I root for this motherf**ker. Now I watch Emancipation, just to see him get whooped.”
He even teased the pair about Pinkett Smith's infidelity and said that Smith has ‘selective outrage’, which was also the title of his sell-out show.
He added: “Everybody that really knows knows I had nothing to do with that. I didn’t have any entanglements… She hurt him way more than he hurt me”.
However, it turns out that last year's commotion was not the first time that the Everybody Hates Chris star came to bitter blows with Pinkett Smith.
In fact, the comedian claims that the Gotham actress began their 'feud' after she called for him to step down as host of the Academy Awards ceremony in 2016.
At the time, the Oscars were embroiled in a racism scandal, leading to a boycott by some A-Listers and the hashtag #OscarsSoWhite trending on social media.
Smith had also been snubbed - despite many thinking he would be nominated for Best Actor after his performance in the biopic Concussion.
Despite this, Rock went on to host the Oscars that year and even made jokes about Pinkett Smith’s boycotting of the star-studded ceremony - jokes which have since resurfaced online.
“Jada [Pinkett Smith] boycotting the Oscars is like me boycotting Rihanna’s panties. I wasn’t invited,” he joked, adding: “It’s not fair that Will was this good and didn’t get nominated.
"It’s also not fair that Will was paid $20 million for Wild Wild West.”
Topics: Will Smith, Chris Rock, Celebrity, TV and Film, Oscars
Katherine Sidnell