People have criticized Chris Rock for getting a fact wrong about Will Smith over a joke he made during his Netflix special in which he referred to ‘slapgate.’
The comedian broke into Will and Jada Pinkett Smith’s relationship and opened up about the slap he received at the Oscars during the Netflix show Selective Outrage.
Chris joked that he felt the slap and brought up some of Will’s movie roles to illustrate that one of them was an action star and the other was a funny guy.
He said: ‘I know you can’t tell it on camera: Will Smith is significantly bigger than me. We’re not the same size, okay? Will Smith makes movies shirtless. You’ve never seen me make a movie shirtless.
‘If I’m in a movie with open heart surgery, I have a sweater on. Will Smith played Muhammad Ali in a movie.
‘I should be so ashamed’: Chris Rock has come under fire for inaccuracy on Will Smith’s career over a joke he made about ‘slapgate’ during his new Netflix special (pictured at the Oscars in March)
The comedian compared his roles in cartoons, saying, “even in the animated movies, I’m a zebra, he’s a fucking shark.”
This is in reference to the 2004 movie Shark Tale.
But fans of Chris pointed out that Will didn’t play a shark, but instead voiced a fish, a blue-striped cleaner fish named Oscar to be precise.
They wrote: ‘Wait, Chris Rock thought Will Smith played the shark?’
“My takeaway from the Chris Rock special is that he thinks Will Smith played a shark in Shark Tale.”
“Conceptually the joke is about how much physically stronger Will Smith is than Chris Rock, but I think a full-size zebra would actually do very well against a small fish in a fight. And a disservice to Jack Black, Robert De Niro and Michael Imperioli, who played the sharks in it.”
“Screaming ‘will smith doesn’t even play the shark in the shark story, jack black does’ as fbi agents rush to put me in a black jeep and disappear.”
Despite this, Chris’ long-awaited public response to being slapped by actor Will Smith at the 2022 Oscars has received high praise, with some calling it the “greatest brutal takedown” ever.
‘Ha ha ha! Will Smith Wasn’t A Shark’: Fans Reacted To Chris’ Prank In The Funniest Way, Sharing Fish Memes On Twitter
During his new Netflix standup special that premiered live on Saturday night, Rock responded verbally to Smith a year after the incident that saw Smith kicked out of the Academy.
In a nearly two-minute segment, Rock shot Smith’s decision to slap him onstage at the awards ceremony, making Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith the butt of his joke about her cheating on him.
‘Everyone called him a b**ch, and who is he hitting? Me,’ Rock joked to a crowd that included a friend of Meghan Markle’s who he was seen laughing backstage, according to Page six.
The comedian also took aim at the former ‘Suits’ actress during his special, saying she was ‘acting dumb’ for not realizing that the royal family are the ‘OGs of racism’.
Rock’s tirade has since been hailed on social media as “the best/perfect way” to get back at Smith for their career-changing moment.
The comedian made audience members and live viewers wait until the final ten minutes of ‘Chris Rock: Selective Outrage’ before addressing the slap.
“You all know what happened to me, when Suge Smith hit me,” the comedian joked. Rock said: ‘It still hurts. I have ‘Summertime’ ringing in my ears.’
The slap came last year after Rock made a joke about Pinkett-Smith’s bald spot, caused by alopecia.
Rock had joked that Pinkett-Smith was sporting a ‘GI Jane’ look, prompting her husband to storm the stage and slap him, and he later repeated: ‘Keep my wife’s name out of your fucking mouth!’
During his new stand-up special, Rock joked about his struggle in the year since.
‘Anyone who says ‘words hurt’ has never been punched in the face,’ he said.
But I’m not a victim, honey. You will never see me on Oprah or Gayle crying,” Rock said. He joked that he ‘took that shit like [Manny] Pacquaio.
The crowd in the audience roared with laughter as those at home took to social media to weigh in.
“Like most comedians, I am continually grateful for the existence of Chris Rock. Thank you comedy gods,” wrote fellow comedian Jim Gaffigan.
Listen to me when I tell you. THIS IS THE WILDEST MIC DROP OF ALL TIME. NUF RESPEC’, the Twitter user wrote.
That user was referencing the microphone drop at the end of his special when he responds to those who have asked why he didn’t slap Smith back, saying, ‘You know what my parents taught me? Don’t fight in front of the whites.