In first post-Oscars special, Chris Rock is more mad about Jada Pinkett Smith than getting slapped
Rock ended his big Netflix special Selective Outrage by insisting that Jada Pinkett Smith is worse than the Oscars slap
Aux News Chris Rock
This weekend, Netflix aired it’s first live-streamed comedy special, Chris Rock’s Selective Outrage, and as everyone assumed, the comedian used a good chunk of it to talk about getting slapped by Will Smith onstage at the 2022 Oscars. But, being a showman, Rock actually spent most of the special dancing around the thing people actually wanted to hear about—for the majority of the special, he avoided directly mentioning the slap, choosing instead to make winky jokes about how he doesn’t want to make fun of Snoop Dogg (for doing so many commercials) because, “the last thing I need is another mad rapper.”
Rock also joked about what the Los Angeles Times referred to as “low-hanging comic fruit,” specifically O.J. Simpson, Meghan Markle (he joked about the royal family being the original racists, but still came around to that being her fault), and the Kardashians. He also noted that he’s so pro-abortion that he’s paid for more abortions than any woman in the room. General sort of Chris Rock material, in other words.
But at the end of the show, Rock did finally go on a tear about Will Smith slapping him, but he made it clear that any problems he has are not with Will Smith; they’re with Jada Pinkett Smith. Rock said that the slap “still hurts” (adding “I got ‘Summertime’ ringing in my ears”), but that he’s not “a victim” and that he’ll never cry to “Oprah or Gayle.” Rock argued that he “took that hit like Pacquiao,” explaining that Smith “does movies with his shirt off” while he does “a movie getting open heart surgery,” joking that even in animation Smith plays a bigger guy than Rock ever will (“I’m a zebra, he’s a shark.”).
Ultimately, Rock landed on the title line of his special by saying that it’s Smith who “practices selective outrage,” explaining that he should actually be mad at Jada Pinkett Smith for cheating on him. “She hurt him way more than he hurt me,” Rock argued. “Everybody in the world called him a bitch… They called his wife a predator. And who does he hit? Me.”
Rock then revealed that he’s had a grudge of sorts against Pinkett Smith for years, since she called him and told him not to host the Oscars in 2016 after Smith got snubbed for Concussion (which Rock called “the biggest piece of shit ever”):
So I did some jokes about him. That’s how it is. She starts it, I finish it. OK? That’s what happened. Nobody’s picking on this bitch. She started this shit. Nobody was picking on her. She said me, a grown-ass man, should quit his job because her husband didn’t get nominated. And then [he] gives me a concussion. What the fuck, man?
Rock then explained why he didn’t do anything back to Smith that night at the Oscars: “Cause I got parents. Because I was raised, OK? You know what my parents taught me? Don’t fight in front of white people.”
As for how the special is being received, a lot of the worst people on social media (and probably the world in general) loved it, welcoming the opportunity to talk about how women and “wokeness” are stupid, but there are some compelling counterpoints going around:
358 Comments
Fella’s hilarious. I’ll definitely watch this special eventually.
Gen X comedians are such trash
Nah. You’re just an unfunny, depressed loser.
I’ll take depressed loser but unfunny is a bridge too far.
That’s fine.
Very brave of you to dismiss my earlier comment.
lol you got nothing in life but this
Right. It’s generational.EYEROLLFOREVER
Consequence of Sound has a good summary of his remarks, near the end of the show. I’m proud of Rock for not apologizing, and for providing a lot of context that goes back to 2016. Jada is a monster. Chris is a good man.
I don’t know and don’t really care, but has Will Smith been unfaithful during his marriage? If so, then it would truly be ironic for him to physically assault Chris Rock when he ought to be legally assaulting Jada for a divorce.I have not one f*ck to give about the lives, intimate or otherwise, of most celebrities, but certain jokes to land, they do have to tell some version of the truth, and I’m not aware of all of it in this case.
Jada is the only one who came out of this looking good. Someone give her a solid indie flick so she can get her Oscar and end this once and for all.
What reality do you live in?
Presumably a less misogynistic one.
What a brave, important thing for you to say
Really brave for you to dismiss my comment.
Don’t feed them. Just ignore them.
the one where you’re a little bitch i think
This old bald granny cant act at all
Like hair on her head, that would be something else she couldn’t support.
Hey Chris? We get the joke. Enough.
HILARIOUS
When did she ever look good?
Collateral.
IDK. Nutty Professor?
my how ugly must you be
How does she look good? Made her hubby look like a fucking cuck. If she can’t keep her legs closed at least dont air to the world that she keeps spreading them.
How do you figure? Will thought the joke was funny until he saw Jada wasn’t laughing. Do you REALLY think it was Will’s decision to go up and make a fool of himself live on TV? That was all Jada.
I saw the same thing, but he may have overshot the mark a little bit.I think after the family interview where she discussed banging one of her son’s friends his head may not be right with respect to their relationship.
Yeah, crazily enough I believe in autonomy. Jada didn’t MAKE him do shit.
Nah, everyone looks petty in this thing. Jada might look the worst for sleeping with their son’s friend and then talking about it on her show.
If she talked about it without consulting Will, that’s shitty.Of course we don’t know if that’s the case. But sure, act like it is.
I will, thanks for your approval!
Chris Rock….on point again! Women DO have power! Will Smith IS a bullying Cuckhold! Most “wokeness” IS unearned victimhood taking up space for real victims! The thing I love most….his daughter in culinary school in PARIS!!! Every family should have a chef! They’re the best!(ps, my dad was a chef and raised me in the kitchen. My friends are very happy about that #servingCoqAuVinTonight.)
Jfc take your meds and stop commenting.
Who the fuck do you think you are to say something like that? Take medication because I liked a stand up’s routine? are you fucking kidding me? I liked it— you didn’t. It doesn’t mean anyone needs to be medicated and you saying that, is downright abusive bullying! Btw– if you don’t like what I said then state your opinion!!! name calling is not a persuasive argument you mental midget.
Wow, fuck you.
Cool. You make a good point. Do you have a newsletter or podcast?
barrycracker, huh?😏There is no such thing as a “Cuckhold,” and #YouAreNotOnTwitter. 😀 😀
Dude….what?
Seriously, what is up with conservative posts here? Is it one guy with 12 accounts or did AVClub say something nice about Mindy Kaling and bring them here?
Why was this shit pulled up from the grays? FFS, some things don’t need a response right?
They’ve always been here.
Ya’ll keep upgreying them by talking to them when the rule with them should be dismiss and ignore. Attacking and fighting them serves their cause and point.
They’re all E.BuzzMiller, AKA, “Dom.”
This is just what uneducated white trash be like. Especially since they became a complete laughingstock in 2020. You should check out other corners of the internet.
Conservative posts? Liking Rock’s routine isn’t a political stance. It’s just liking his comedy. If you think that I’m a “conservative” because I thought what he said was funny then your problem isn’t with “conservatism”. Your problem is with your low IQ.
Satire!
That was my first thought. It’s just too perfectly awful.
choke on it
I guess that link goes to Shark Tale, the movie where Will Smith plays a tiny little fish?
Yep. It’s almost like Chris Rock told a joke without thinking too hard about it. “Will was in that movie Shark Tale, right? Cool, I can joke about him being a shark and me being a zebra!”Like… dude. Do the barest minimum Google.
I’m a fan of AV Club’s ‘If you like this, you’re a bad person’ angle at the end. But come on. “Don’t fight in front of white people” is genuinely good advice. I lol’ed at that.
Yeah, my mother also taught me that shit talking black women in front of white people in her hearing would get her foot planted in my ass. Shame Rock never got that home training.
It’s funny how you can tell the avclub is so terrified of finding something funny that someone somewhere might be offended by.Definitely not pathetic at all.
i dunno we’re all laughing pretty hard at you
Chris Rock is the only one who gets it as he laughs at all his raci$t haters (including here in the comments)
I saw him live a few weeks ago. A massive detail the AVClub is selectively leaving out, to maximize the outrage you’re supposed to feel, is that he’s pointing out that she cheated on him by sleeping with their teenage son’s friend, and then they took interviews about it as a family. The joke is Will Smith had to sit through that humiliating experience as a supportive husband, so he took it out on Rock the first chance he got.Also, they’re making it seem like Rock is playing respectability politics with the bit about fighting in front of white people, and that is totally taking it out context. That was an aside about how white the Oscars is, and the main punchline was that he didn’t hit back because that slap really hurt, because Rock is a frail comedian and Smith played Muhammad Ali.
It’s almost like the writers for this site are unfunny, untalented hacks.
like speaks to like?
Chris can’t speak on respectability politics because he IS a house nigga.
…AV Club approved publishing this word, eh?
Your selective outrage is enjoyable
I dont think it’s absurd to be outraged when someone uses a word like that on a public forum. It’s not selective if it’s widely considered to be in bad taste at minimum, and outright hateful at maximum.
Cry me a river. I’ve been using the msg boards and the internet for almost 30 years and have been bombarded by white people dropping the hard R when referring to people with my skin color.
Regarding the statement, again your privilege is showing. A house n-word, as defined by Malcolm X, is the slave who imagines himself to be thought of as kin by his master because they live in the same house.
This is CR entire career. He has always pandered to a white audience, puts down black men and women for the enjoyment of white people, works with majority white people (2007 “I think I love my wife” was the last time h worked with a black cast) and more importantly has NEVER worked to bring up another young black comedian…man or woman.
So PLEASE, tell me again why your feelings are hurt when I used a term to accurately describe what he is.
My feelings aren’t hurt. That’s the point. I am white. You apparently are not. You can do whatever you want to do as an adult, but if you’re justifying it by claiming that a bunch of white folks use it too, it doesn’t make the argument you’re making. The old adage our mothers have told us for years: so if you’re friend said to jump off a cliff, you’d do it too? Is surprisingly salient. Because other people do it, it’s suddenly OK? No, it isn’t. It never has been. If you want to say it among friends, you can do that. I don’t disagree that CR hasn’t done alot for anybody besides himself, but we don’t lower ourselves to their level just because alot of people don’t give him shit for it. If you’re black, then you do you. But it still doesn’t really make it ok to be on a public forum – especially in that context. Whether you’re black, or white, or Asian or what have you, the word is insulting for a reason, whether you’re of a darker skin tone or not. Some people will be incredibly offended, some won’t. That doesn’t make it ok to say just because only 60% of people will take umbrage with it. But that’s the thing, you have no idea who you are talking to, and you aren’t a multimillionaire comedian who can say those things under the guise of it being comedy. We all loved the Chappelle’s show back in the day, and Richard Pryor, and Eddie/Charlie Murphy and so on and so forth. But I also don’t go around calling my white friends cracker and honkey, or my Asian friends… or my black friends… Etc. Not because I’m afraid of some sort of social justice, but because it’s just plain disrespectful. And I sure as shit wouldn’t to somebody on a forum whom I’ve never even met before.
I’m just blown away AV Club, which is so selective with the comments it chooses, has such distaste for Chris Rock, they pushed this one up.
Nah.
and the main punchline was that he didn’t hit back because that slap really hurt, because Rock is a frail comedian and Smith played Muhammad Ali.A lot of the jokes sound hacky, but the “he was Muhammad Ali, I was Pookie” line got a good laugh out of me.
What happens in the Smith marriage is none of Chris Rock’s fucking business. And it’s fun sexism to act aggrieved on Will’s behalf.Nah. Fuck Rock.
JADA MADE IT EVERYONE’S BUSINESS BY PUTTING IT ON THAT STUPID SHOW AND AIRING WILL’S PAIN FOR THE WORLD TO SEE.
I WASN’T CONVINCED OF YOUR POINT BUT THEN I SAW IT WAS ALL IN CAPS AND NOW I SEE THE LIGHT!He’s a grown ass man. If he didn’t want to be there he didn’t have to be there.
Hey, did you see Chris Rock’s last Netflix special where he did an X-rated overshare about how he’d rather bang groupies and watch porn than be with his ex-wife? Despite, IIRC, her asking him to keep her humiliation out of his act? You Rock apologists can’t have it both ways.
*hangs filthy laundry in the middle of Times Square*“OH MY GOD, PLEASE STOP LOOKING AT MY FILTHY LAUNDRY!”
Oh look, it’s the woman’s fault. I am blown away with surprise. Truly.
fuck you fuck the smiths fuck chris rock i hate this fucking timeline
Well, clutch my pearls! Maybe Chris Rock should quite the… what’s the term… oh, yeah… “selective outrage” given that his last Netflix special contained an X-rated overshare about the serial cheating and porn habit that ended his marriage. Don’t take my word for it — anyone with a Netflix password can see Rock exposing her pain for the world too see (and his profit).
Smith put it out in front of the world and made it everybody’s business.
The rumor mill had been on their infidelity for fucking ever. At a certain point can you really blame her for wanting some control over the narrative?The time and place was convenient for her, fair enough. But that still doesn’t make Chris Rock the fucking Manhood Attorney for Will Smith. He can take his outdated masculine bullshit elsewhere. That nonsense is what got him slapped in the first place! If Will didn’t have some dumb idea of husbandly duty we wouldn’t be talking about this. Let Jada fight her own war of words with Rock. She might even win if that limp GI Jane joke was the best ammo he could muster. According to this Netflix special his next best material on her is to just call her a bitch. Really impressive stuff, professional comedian!
Not trying to “both sides” this one to be an asshole but I kinda think no one here is coming out all that great. Will is 100% to blame for the slap because he is a grown adult and that shit just isn’t what people do. Chris is an asshole for trying to say that Jada is at fault for it all. Jada probably comes out the best but honestly her whole need to air out her families baggage on a podcast for the world to see isn’t great either. Overall they are rich celebrities that we should all probably stop giving so many platform to perform their real life drama crap.
Fair. I mostly agree. I just usually see more condemnation of Smith and not a whole lot of recognition of Rock’s passive-aggressive shit. The weak GI Jane joke was not the first time he’s thrown a cheap dig at her.
Jada has no culpability per the slap? GTFO. lol…
I don’t know, Will laughed at first at the joke and then caught Jada absolutely staring daggers at him. Then boom, out of the chair and the rest is history.
This is the correct take. Everyone here is the asshole, and they should all be condemned for the shit they have done to get to this point. Violence is never the answer. Jada deserves to be called out for her outing of Will as a cuck on her show, to the entire world, with Will unready, at minimum. And Rock is not the hero here, in any way. The entire thing is a clusterfuck, and it’s perfectly acceptable to dismiss all of them as assholes.
You’re not intelligent and – thankfully – your opinion means nothing.
No one had her gun to her head to upload her marital problems onto YouTube. Will Smith was a laughing stock after that.
“Will Smith was a laughing stock”Yeah. Because our culture is fucked around matters of masculinity. That’s not Jada’s fault.It’s also not Will’s fault. Or Rock’s fault. But Rock, who knows that masculine bullshit is real, talked some talk. Will, who knows that masculine bullshit is real, walked some walk. Jada took advantage of that situation and pushed for that walk. Nobody is innocent in this situation, which is more my point. We’ve got some freeze peach comedy-is-god idiots backing Rock. And some “Yeah, Jada IS a bitch” idiots, too. And nope. Rock is an asshole. What Will did was wrong, but it wasn’t unprompted. All the piggies here are in the filth.
Umm, Jada publicized her cheating scandal to reboot her career as a talk show host. She took her private buisness and turned it into a literal buisness. As a result, anybody is free to critiisize her behavior about this.
Of course what happens in a marriage is no one else’s business. Right up until the point where you choose to broadcast what happens in that marriage, to the entire public, for money, in books and TV shows and social media. Then it becomes public knowledge, and public knowledge is fair game for stand up comedy.
If Chris Rock wants to make jokes, that’s fine. But what he doesn’t get to do is play marriage counselor or take on Will Smith’s “humiliation” as an affront to masculinity. It’s bog standard toxic masculine horseshit. Which seems pretty on brand for the porn addict serial adulterer.I don’t give a shit that he made a joke. I give a shit that it was a BAD joke based on a CHEAP premise. Which is what got him slapped in the first place.I mean, come the fuck on. G.I. Jane? In 2022?
What kinda dirty skank bitch sleeps with her kids friend? I dont give a fuck how old the kid is, keep them leggies closed around their friends.
I saw him live a few weeks ago. A massive detail the AVClub is
selectively leaving out, to maximize the outrage you’re supposed to feel, is that he’s pointing out that she cheated on him by sleeping with their teenage son’s friend, and then they took interviews about it as a family.
Yeah, and in his last Netflix special Chris Rock did an x-rated overshare about his serial adultery and porn use that ended his marriage. Which, IIRC, his ex-wife was not happy with. I guess that’s an an inconvenient detail you’re selectively leaving out, because it points to just how selective Rock’s outrage is. How about Rock just mind is own damn business and leave Will Smith to take care of his own house?
It’s actually a detail I was unaware of because I didn’t watch his last special, and haven’t really followed Rock as a comic since the 90s until someone invited me to his show. But I also am not operating under the illusion that he’s a great guy, he also has a bit about getting his daughter kicked out of school. And that frankly should cause more outrage than him making a joke on something that the Smiths’ openly talked about in interviews.
To be fair, maybe the AI that wrote the article didn’t watch the show?
I’m reminded of this skit from Big Girls Blouse, where they “out” Sir Anthony Hopkins:
compelling counterpoints negatively commenting on black women’s hair in front of white people
OH, HEAVEN FORFEND!
Not even accurate. She had no hair.
Didn’t Rock made a whole film called ‘Good Hair’ about how problematic it is to criticise Black women’s hair? Given that, it’s fair enough to point out the hyprocrisy here, or at least observe that he should know what a loaded subject this is to make jokes about.
He’s not shitting on Trans people, so I count this as a win.
He did, harmlessly, didn’t he? Also pronouns.
“Harmlessly”?
Mentioning them isn’t shitting on them.
I haven’t seen it, but it doesn’t sound like he’s gone Chappelle or Rowling, so in general, he’s cleared that low bar.
but there are some compelling counterpoints going around:Lol! From some randos
So I did some jokes about him. That’s how it is. She starts it, I finish
it. OK? That’s what happened. Nobody’s picking on this bitch. She
started this shit. Nobody was picking on her. She said me, a grown-ass
man, should quit his job because her husband didn’t get nominated. And
then [he] gives me a concussion. What the fuck, man?
He is intentionally avoiding any specifics about the joke that provoked the reaction because he knows making a joke about a woman’s hair loss makes him look bad, no matter what you think of the woman. He’s getting a pass because of Smith’s inappropriate reaction, and he’s lucky.
Proving that Will slapping him was right. If it was “just a joke”, he would double down on it and keep expanding on it. He knew he fucked up, and got slapped for it.
Um, no. Physical violence is wrong, period. It’s kind of the basis of civilization.
Sucker slapping someone in front of everyone in American because you’re mad is in fact bad
Nah, slapping a dude is a weak move. Fists or GTFO. If you want to hit a dude, knock him on his ass.
Wow, fuck you.
Eat shit cunt
Is the baby going to cry?
Eat shit cunt
You’re skipping. Shall I put a quarter on your head?
Eat shit cunt
Right?? No.
But Rock For Brain will never admit he was wrong, and never stop being nasty. I’ll never knowingly watch him in anything, but next time a great Will Smith film comes on, I will be happy to watch it!
Physical violence is never the correct response to someone saying something offensive.
Must be nice to be part of a social group that hasn’t experienced words equating to violence.
We all have? I mean, what person has never been insulted before? Physical violence is never the answer to a verbal insult, period. It’s part of being an adult.
Words don’t “equate to violence”. Words are words. Violence is violence. One is always worse than the other. See if you can guess which.
US law everywhere is pretty clear about that.
you are delusional. That slap was never right you clown
No, Will slapping him was not right. Never will be.
No one in the world would even remember that joke, positively or negatively, if Will Smith hadn’t reacted in an insane way. It’s the silliest throwaway joke in the world, but it gave us a the world’s worst insight into an insane relationship dynamic.What I can’t help wishing he’d gone into is everyone else’s reaction. Comforting the bully after he hit someone, giving him a standing ovation like 15 minutes later, partying with him all night, refusing to criticize Will Smith when asked about it after the show. This after 5 years of patting themselves on the back for their supposed refusal to defer to the most powerful person anymore in a #MeToo world.
I’d remember it because it was a really lame joke, but that’s me.
Seriously it was a friggin GI Jane reference. A movie body nobody has talked about in over 20 years. That was the whole reason the slap was so bizarre. It was over the dumbest little remark that half the audience probably didn’t even get.
That Will Smith *laughed* at.
Yup
There’s also a video out there from someone in the back filming Jada and Will and you can tell Jada was laughing after the slap. https://www.buzzfeednews.com/amphtml/leylamohammed/jada-pinkett-smith-reaction-will-smith-slap-video
What Chris Rock did was WAY worse than what Will Smith did, and I think what Will Smith did was REALLY bad. Smith did a crappy thing out of emotions. He reacted and acted in a violent and misogynistic way (I gotta defend my woman!).However, Chris Rock knew Jada for years and PERSONALLY knew how much pain and humiliation she had suffered because of a disease over which she as no control. He then intentionally and CRUELLY inserted an unplanned joke just to humiliate a woman in front of millions of people.I get why people are dogging Smith. He deserves it. But it truly disgusts me that people have responded to the slap by villainizing Smith while holding up Chris Rock as some sort of hero. The man is scum, and his “Selective Outrage” special showed just how little he thinks of women.What is wrong with you America for supporting this sack of crap?
Chris never made fun of Jada’s “hair loss”. He compared her appearance, to G.I Jane. Pretty sure Jane didn’t have hair loss in that film. Seems you have more issues with his joke about her hair, than she did (all she did was rolled her eyes, Will laughed his ass off… before strutting his thing up on stage, to slap Chris).
GI Jane came out 1997, so it’s an old ass film. And his joke is just ‘hur hur she don’t got hairs on her head’! Lame joke is lame.
It was all about trying to get laughs about someone else’s pain. That’s what he thinks is humor.
“He compared her appearance, to G.I Jane. Pretty sure Jane didn’t have hair loss in that film”That’s a poor defence. If you compare an anorexic woman to a skeleton, you can’t defend it saying “Pretty sure skeletons don’t have anorexia”. He was making fun of her being bald. If he’d compared her to a billiard ball, would you have said “Pretty sure billiard balls don’t have hair loss”?
I don’t care if he makes a joke about a hairstyle deliberately chosen by someone. I wish he had addressed if he knew that she had alopecia before making the joke. There were a lot of people at the time who assumed he did and that it made him the bad guy, but I don’t know.
Of course he knew. It’s not even the first time he’s made fun of her for it
Making a joke about someone’s appearance, no matter the reason, can be a dangerous line to toe, but if he had come out and said “I didn’t know she had a condition when I made the joke”, I would’ve let it go, especially since what Smith did to him was way out of line. Now, though, he looks like he’s doubling down on it.
Considering all the pushback that happened after people made fun of Madonna’s plastic surgery, I think he’s lucky that Smith made that big of an ass of himself. Contrary to Madonna, Jada Pinkett-Smith had no control over her change of appearance.
I am white, and even i have know for decades its a thing plagueing African american women. Many african american women wear extensions, weaves, wigs etc because of that. Its been pretty much the butt of the joke for many comedians. He as a African american man should have know. And as been pointed out in the past, he has targeted her ( rightfully or not). And he also admits he does not attack certain people because he is a afraid of them ( snoop).
He has literally said – and it’s been printed and spread – that he did not know she had hair loss of any kind. Just like most of the general public.
But that hairstyle was deliberately chosen by her. She shaved her head. If she was sensitive about hair loss, she could’ve worn a wig, or a hat, or a turban, which are things she has done in public at other points in her hair loss. People are acting as if that mean Chris Rock ripped a wig off her head to humiliate her for balding, when she chose a shaved head as a statement at an event where she knew eyes would constantly be on her, and where she had to understand that she and her husband—basically, the star of that night’s show—might be the butt of a few jokes. Every year, the folks in those important seats near the stage get ragged on, used as props in skits, and so forth. Jada Pinkett Smith knew this coming in. In the end, the joke that everyone’s pretending to take so much offense for compares her to another woman who famously looked awesome with a shaved head (and it’s an Oscar reference, because I’m pretty sure that GI Jane was heavily promoted during the broadcast the year it came out). And it’s clear on tape: before he made an ass of himself, Will Smith laughed at the joke.The folks who are going out of their way to justify someone laying hands on another person at a public event might not be quite as creepy as the incels who are enjoying Chris Rock’s special a bit too much, but they’re really close.
This is kind of how I remember it going down.
The joke was wrong AND the slap was wrong. Hair loss is a sensitive subject, especially for women, and she was open enough about it for Rock to have known, especially given all the other details he knew about her life. “Dealing with it” by wearing a wig or shaving your hair doesn’t mean you’re always fine with it all the time (and I’m speaking as a woman with the same condition) so no, nothing she did, wore, or said invited his response.
If they have beef, fine. Violence is never the answer. But the joke that started it all shouldn’t have been said. He knew better and chose to be a dick.
“But that hairstyle was deliberately chosen by her. She shaved her head”It’s a real stretch to say someone shaving their head when they get alopecia is ‘deliberately choosing to be bald’. Your choices are pretty limited when falls out patchily. And either way, he was still making fun of her condition.
I honestly cannot imagine Rock knew that.
I think she’d talked about it at length on her podcast though. So he definitely COULD have heard – but probably no, he didn’t know.
As long as making a joke about a mans hair loss is equally bad.Say it’s equally bad?
Particularly black women’s hair because it’s been used against them to discriminate against them. Schools are still policing natural black hair to the point of assault. Yes it’s assault when someone in authority cuts a black student’s hair without permission.
“Particularly black women’s hair because it’s been used against them to discriminate against them.”Not really.“Particularly black women’s hair because it’s been used against them to discriminate against them.”Lol this isn’t happening anywhere.
He literally made a documentary called “Good Hair” about Black women’s hair.
He wasn’t commenting on her hair. He was commenting on her lack of hair
My wife has had alopecia for 30 years, it sucks, but she looked at Jada’s po-faced mug, and said get over your fucking self. Typical Yank, cannot take a joke.
he knows making a joke about a woman’s hair loss makes him look bad
Jim Jefferies new special had like 5 minutes of jokes about women’s hair loss.
we all saw Will Smith laugh, until his wife gave him the stink eye
Did you see Marlon Wayans: God Loves Me: on HBO Max? If you haven’t you might see the ad and think it’s just another stand up special full of random jokes for an hour. No, the entire thing is about Will Smith, Jada and Chris Rock and the slap. Marlon makes it work. He wraps up the whole thing in a nice bow. In a lot of ways it’s funnier and more insightful than the recent Chris Rock stand up special.
Did this article abruptly end or am I off this Sunday morning?
They hit their “we don’t like this and nobody else should either” point and just kinda stopped, yeah. They said what needed to be said (in their minds). (Personal take nobody asked for? I haven’t seen this, and almost certainly won’t. I don’t care, and I’m not giving anyone involved more attention. It’s crazy that if you stop paying attention to people who crave attention, they tend to either go away or alter their behavior in a way that gets attention. Either option seems preferable to “Meh, they stupid and anyone who like this stupid too!”)
They kind of mumbled something about “people are saying these days” and tacked on a couple of random tweets. What more do you want?
Meghan Markle/Harry Windsor: If you have multiple people doing dumb or bad shit attributing blame to all parties isn’t the same as “landing on one being at fault” just because that is the last party you mentioned. You MAY conclude that, but just in a comed sense you don’t open by blaming the party mostly thought of as the “victim”. That’s the opposite of funny. It subverts no expectations.And in a stunning display of incompetence on a piece meantt convey Rock being”some kind of way”about Jada you fucking overlook he filmed the special in Jada’s fucking birth town.He did not spend the show dancing around dishing dirt on JPS. The entire filming from top to bottom was him kicking sand in her face. You should get someone who’s actually interested in comedy to write these things if they need to be written.
The slap is all on Will Smith. He could have done the sensible thing and have a chat with Rock afterwards that he would like him to apologize for what he said to his wife.
Or he could have done a sensitive interview about how upsetting the joke was. Or had his agent put out a press release saying that he was offended.
Those still would have been more reasonable options than hitting someone.
Plus he’d get to tap into the sweet sweet victimhood currency
Even if he had gone up on stage but not hit Rock, i.e. had some words with him, it wouldn’t have been nearly as bad as hitting him. Will Smith is a criminal, plain and simple. He literally committed a crime.
Stop it with your white tears
Um… whut? What the hell do you mean? Is it not a crime because they’re both black, or something, is that what you’re trying to say?
hahahahaha what are you on?Then they would have said: weak cuck is to woke to be a man and defend his wife. ( or something along that line)There was no way out for Will smith that did not hurt him in 1 way or the other.Should he have hit him….nope. Should have said i am sorry right after? yes. But lets be real, a lot of stand up comedians do this type of shit for cloud and attention. They are thinning the line more and more. Brining politics into it, holding whole political tirades ( dave chappelle), going after specific people or groups time and time again ( pretty much bullying/harresament). And when someone defends themselves they go all snowflake.
I generally enjoy watching comics – most are about having some fun, not trying to hurt a decent person. Rock, though, gets his jolleys from causing pain.
He could’ve played it cool in the show.
Slap him, sit down , have a laugh, pretend it’s all part of their camaraderie and say something like “you deserved it, that joke was under the belt, (while smiling and chuckling)”. Everyone would’ve let it go as a joke between friends and just a friendly gag to make the audience laugh. Chris Rock would’ve gotten shit for making fun of a woman’s hair.
Pretty sure the slap was on Chris Rock. 😀
Or stand up to (or simply leave) his toxic wife if she’s got a problem with words.
It’s amazing what a mindfuck can do to a person.
So. Basically he got paid a shitton of money to dump on women? How original! How bold! So edgy! Tiresome. Next.
Yes, because making fun of one woman implies he’s making fun of all women. Congrats on a really intelligent take.
He’s just taken a shot at meghan Merkel too. You don’t have to like her, but that makes more than one woman. Rock has a problem.
It’s Meghan Markle, not Meghan Merkel lol. Defending the honor of a woman whose name you don’t even know seems like…wait for it…selective outrage. Rock’s point on her stands – how did she except the ROYAL FAMILY, the literal creators of colonialism, to not be racist? The argument that Rock has it out for women is an absurd one when we are taking about a comedian who has spent his career making fun of EVERYONE. If you don’t believe me, look up what he said about 50 Cent at the 2003 MTV Music Awards – a million more times savage than any joke he made about a female celeb. What’s the end game here, comedians can never poke fun at a woman who is a public figure ever again? This backwards idea that comics have to treat women with kiddie gloves because they are more delicate creatures than men is the true sexism here.
“It’s Meghan Markle, not Meghan Merkel lol… how did she except the ROYAL FAMILY”If you’re going to dunk someone for a single-letter typo then it’s best you make no spelling mistakes yourself. It’s ‘expect’.
Yeah, I tried to edit that (as well as “we are talking* about a comedian”) after I posted but this wonky comment section wasn’t allowing me to. And their mistake was a bit more than a typo, it’s getting the pronunciation of a woman whose name we’ve heard a million times in the last year wrong. Maybe they were confusing Markel with Angela Merkel?
This is extremely flawed logic.
you women haters sure like to stick together
he got paid a shitton of money to dump on I believe he dumped on a few men too, notably the Jan 6th insurrectionists.
Was this written by all of the staff?
You try and write a short article by yourself!
It’s impossible!
Yep. The AVClub writers all try to tackle an article solo but when they are defeated they perform the ultra mega journalism fusion dance and become AVClubotron
And you love it enough to comment on it multiple times with the same tired jokes.
I wish they had more articles done by Green AV Club Writer.
“Oh no! We’re still 60 words short, what do we do!”“Activate…Twitter Rando Article Padding Charge Beam Supreme!”
Sites sourcing taeks from Twitter is worse than high schoolers using Wikipedia as a source in an essay.
It was a team building exercise. They all huddled around one desk, each contributing to the column one word at a time, constantly rotating until they had a finished document. They then celebrated their accomplishment with pizza and soda at Chuck E Cheese.
Most likely written by a caucasian woman writer. So it’s dangerous since african american community can lash out if the take is wrong.
In a vacuum, I would and did say that Rock’s joke against JPS was pretty harmless. Calling a bald woman ‘GI Jane’ in a jokey way, at an event where some light ribbing is expected, could almost be interpreted as a compliment, frankly – especially if he didn’t know it was due to alopecia.But if he’s already not on good terms with JPS/WS, then that kinda makes it look like he’s taking potshots at them from an elevated position. Doesn’t justify the slap, but it does make his behavior seem a little more suspect.On the other hand – the supporting quotes the AV Club uses don’t bear out that he ‘had a grudge’ or that there was long-standing enmity between them – only that she once did something he disagreed with, which he is now bringing up because, hey, why the hell to?They also don’t bear out the idea that: “he made it clear that any problems he has are not with Will Smith; they’re with Jada Pinkett Smith,” especially when the goddamned title of the special is literally a reference to Will Smith. I guess the AV Club are going with this angle to make Rock look more misogynist?
He straight-up called her a bitch, casually. AV Club doesn’t need to go with any angle to make him look more misogynist
You’re suchhhhh a good person.
piss yourself some more
Do you have any takes that you haven’t ripped off of South Park?
you’re suchhhhh a dumb shit
She’s a disloyal bitch.
Would it have been better if he had formally called her a bitch?
Tacitly calling someone a “bitch” makes a person misogynist? Got it.
“I guess the AV Club are going with this angle to make Rock look more misogynist?”Correct. These people don’t know any other way to write/think.
keep hanging around somewhere you hate numbnuts
Yea the writing in this article isn’t very tight. Needed another go-over by an editor who had a strong sense of the through-line. This article reads like the scattered thoughts of the AV Club’s editorial staff more than an article written by a single author with a clear point of view.
You’re implying that there’s such a thing as “editors” or an “editorial staff”.
LOL editors at this dumpster fire.
-The AV Club (Staff)
Virtue signaling is the only morality the AV Club knows.
You know it’s gonna be an all-timer when none of the writers want to attach their name to the article
Over at Kotaku they scream any time some one brings up AI generated anything meanwhile half the articles at the AVClub feel like they were written by an algorithm
In fairness the algorithm writes better than Barsanti.
I figured the various Kotakuans would love having a bot write for them.
It’s hard to beat the pithy eloquence of Drew Gillis: “Talk shit, get hit”What a scumbag.
I assumed it meant G/O Media finally fired all the humans.
It’s for the best
I see you know the proper deployment of its vs. it’s, unlike the first sentence of this article.
Writing an article like this is beyond the power of any single person, it takes a team to write 7 paragraphs this cromulent.
Will Smith screams the f-word at the Academy Awards, runs up onstage and slaps Chris Rock for a joke that wouldn’t even register on the Don Rickles scale, and the AV Club manages to turn Rock into the bad guy. Incredible. So when are the Online BS Awards? Because I’d like to make a nomination.
It’s there way of avoiding some deranged commenter taking this shit personally and stalking their socials.
I’m not saying Will Smith should’ve slapped the shit out of Chris Rock for that tired, hacky joke (a GI JANE reference, come on)… but I understand.
Of course, a comedian making a joke about something is basically the same as someone physically attacking a comedian for making a joke.
Jada Pinkett Smith is a total cunt.
im sure she’s devastated by your comment
I’m sure she’s a cunt.
i’m sure she’s nothing like your mom
Obviously. My mum’s not a cunt. You know who is? The woman who banged her son’s best friend and then interviewed her husband about it on TV!
nah fuck your mom. i know i did.
The only thing you’ve ever fucked is the greased bagel tucked in your armpit. Even Jada hasn’t fucked you, and she’s such a ho she thinks that STD stands for “Suck this dick”.
sorry don’t have time to read your fanfic gotta go plow your mommy
Nice projection you’ve got there. Did your daddy help you with that?
No-one needs help seeing that Jada’s a cunt.
Since this whole situation arose from a joke that would’ve made more sense in 1997, I submit that Will and Chris resolve their differences the way everyone did that year: GoldenEye 007 multiplayer.
Facility, 2 minutes, Slappers Only
Will ends up taking Odd Job and Rock blames Jada for telling him to do it
Basement, Pistols, License to Kill
NO ODDJOB
Brought to you by “white people who think just by saying ‘black woman’ you’re making a good point, and have to be sided with, no matter how inane your argument is.”
And you’re lighting up the scoreboard with bald jokes.Dick.
Gave you a star. Seems like you could use it.
Saw him live in Vegas. Was ok but pretty uninspired material. Very tame I thought. No real desire to see this, but it’s so weird how comedy routines from certain folks have become socio-political sounding boards for the Very Online and no one actually judges to see if they succeed as comedy!I’ve disliked almost all of Chappelle’s new stuff, but mostly cause it’s hacky. It’s like the bit in Seinfeld where he’s in confession complaining about Bryant Cranston converting to Judaism for the jokes:“And this offends you as a Jewish person?”“No, it offends me as a comedian!”
“it’s so weird how comedy routines from certain folks have become socio-political sounding boards for the Very Online and no one actually judges to see if they succeed as comedy!”That’s because the people you’re referring to literally don’t understand what comedy is.
Yeah was sitting in front of Trump supporters who said Rock and Chappelle were their favorite comedians. He told a few Hillary jokes they were hooting and hollering at, then told like the tamest Trump joke I ever heard and mildly supported Biden and they were silent the rest of the routine. Don’t think they realized he’s actually a mostly left-leaning dude. Seeing their reactions was funnier than the routine.
lmao you don’t know shit about fuck
Yeah all the tabloid handwringing aside this is one of his worst specials. Either this one or the previous one is probably the overall worst.
Selective Outrage doesn’t completely fall into Old Man Yells At Clouds/grievance-wallowing territory until the last ten minutes or so, and there’s still enough of Chris’ comedian-instinct to execute a few rhetorical swerves…which is about as much as I can give the special, because most of the material itself just isn’t that funny on its own.
Chappelle’s new stuff is “hacky”. lol
I’ve disliked almost all of Chappelle’s new stuff, but mostly cause it’s hacky. Yep. This.I saw Chappelle live, on a small tour with Jim Breuer (meh – it’s fucking Jim Breuer), Janeane Garofalo (awful – as in she didn’t tell one joke, or even relay an anecdote in a fun way), and Colin Quinn (too drunk to perform that night). He fucking killed. Delivery, presence, material, all of it.Modern Chappelle is…I’m just not a fan of “elder statesman” Chappelle. It’s…fine.But, to your opening point, saying that can sometimes invite the rebuttal of “Well I bet you LOVED NANETTE!” (I didn’t.)
Bruv. 1000%. I found Nanette really hard to get through. It is so much clapter. And when I’ve said this among my very lefty friends I’ve had a few dagger stares.Man… give me Kinane. Largely apolitical, some hippie jokes here or there to reassure me that he’s not a secret conservashit, mostly silly or self-deprecating about his age/weight/drinking.
Is anyone else not a fan of the cuts to the audience? It always feels a little forced to me, like the director feels the need to make absolutely sure we know that people are laughing.
That’s done for editing and production purposes.
That’s…vague. I didn’t think it was done randomly, but I’ve seen plenty of stand-up specials, including on Netflix, where they don’t do that. Louis CK, to my knowledge, never had that.
Jerrod hasn’t shown the audience in his last two specials.
I remember that from 8. The last one, I guess it never occurred to me, because those more intimate specials typically don’t do those cuts, in my experience.
Right. Because it’s not always needed. It’s not “random,” either, and usually inserted for a reason, such as setting up a different angle or resetting a camera, etc.
Louie CK has stated that he consciously avoids audience shots in his specials. One reason he’s done a few of them in “the round” (a circular stage surrounded by the audience) is that cuts from one angle to another can be from dramatically different perspectives, and doing that can obviate the filler crowd-shot inserts which are meant to mask continuity gaps.
That’s interesting, I didn’t know that. Thanks.
“As for how the special is being received, a lot of the worst people on social media (and probably the world in general) loved it” Calling people bad for enjoying a comedy special certainly seems like…wait for it…selective outrage.
I mean, that’s objectively not what that sentence is doing. They (I guess whoever actually wrote the article is afraid of getting slapped) are saying people who are bad for other reasons loved it. Of course, the implication is that people who love it are bad by association, but they’re not outright calling anyone bad for enjoying a comedy special. It’s the kind of mealy-mouthed qualifier I expect from the A.V. Club.
The social media part is implicating (of course, they give no examples of who these bad social media people are, which roughly translates to anyone who posted that they liked the special), but the part in parenthesis about “the world in general” is pretty cut and dry.
I’m not sure I follow. The sentence is saying the worst people on social media loved the special – which I take to mean people that are already awful on social media (posting bigoted things) loved the special. The part in parenthesis is qualified with “probably” but its placement makes me think that the AV Club staff is presuming that people who are awful on social media are probably also awful in the world in general. It could also mean the world in general loved the special.In other words, the passage is written too poorly to be cut and dry to me.
Ah, I took it as meaning people beyond those bad people on social media in the world who enjoyed it are also bad people, but I could be wrong. Let’s just chalk it up to being a bad sentence.
Aw, an internet disagreement with a civil ending. 🙂 I guess not everything in the world is shit.
Chris Rock: “I have the right to publicly humiliate a woman in front of all her professional colleagues and the world via a television broadcast because once, a few years ago, I didn’t like her tone with me.”He deserved to be slapped by every member of the audience.
Helpful hint: If you’re endorsing physical violence against someone for something they said… you’re probably an asshole.
She had publicized the affair previously. That was what was in very bad taste. Rock didn’t improve it, be he certainly didn’t initiate it.
Go watch Rock’s last Netflix special where he goes on an X-rated overshare about how he used to prefer banging groupies and watching porn to being around his ex-wife — and reportedly laughing in her face when she asked him to stop publicly humiliating. That trash has NO credibility to be lecturing anyone on good taste and respect.
Jada: I can be a sexual predator with no consequences but if somebody comments on my hair I get to have my husband commit felony assault on live tv also with no consequences. Grow up.
if somebody comments on my hair I get to have my husband commit felony assault on live tv also with no consequences.He was banned from the Oscars ceremony for ten years and continues to be dragged in the court of public opinion a year later. I understand that some people think that those consequences aren’t enough, but that’s not the same as “no” consequences, no matter how angry you are.
And Will Smith is his own man with his own mind and his own hand to assault someone.Grow up.
He deserved to be slapped by every member of the audience. Listen to yourself.
In what world is being favorably compared to Demi Moore a “public humiliation”?Sure, she might be sensitive about her hair; we all have stuff we’re sensitive about. But there really ought to be a sense of reasonability about how much offense you are allowed to take over a joke that just wasn’t that mean.
The special was funny, and I thought he was pretty hard on Will Smith. Comedy wasn’t meant for Twitter or The AV Club, it’s meant for people that like to enjoy things.
grown human doesn’t understand that comedy is subjective
Sure it’s subjective, that’s why most grown humans just say “Eh, I didn’t laugh much” or “That was funny” and move on with their lives, rather than turning it into some sort of treatise.
this is all so fucking childish. peaked in highschool vibes
It’s kinda funny that Will Smith slapping him made him more relevant than he’s been in decades now. Too bad he wants to be a poster boy for over-sensitive comedians who think everyone else needs to chill and will not stop whining and crying about it like calling out a dumb, childish, offensive joke is akin to committing genocide.
“Compelling counterpoints” being that physical violence was in fact justified in response to a joke?I guess I’m one of the worst people in the world because I fucking loved it. Rock fought violence with words and made Smith look like a sad little angry cuck.
You unironically used the word “cuck”. So yes, you ARE one of the worst people in the world.
“This weekend, Netflix aired it’s first live-streamed comedy special”Jesus Jugglin’ Christ, it’s its. It just is. You drop the apostrophe when it’s possessive. The dog chased its tail. ITS.
NO apostrophe.
Rock ended his big Netflix special Selective Outrage by insisting that Jada Pinkett Smith is worse than the Oscars slapNo, he didn’t.
I don’t particularly enjoy Chris Rock’s comedy (am I allowed to say that? I am a white person, but I’m also a feminist and LGBTQ person so maybe it balances out and I’m allowed to call a Black comic unfunny? I don’t know the rules). And it sounds like this is at best hacky and at worst misogynistic (though the examples given, out of context, don’t make that an open/shut case).But is it really so hard for people to accept that two people can be s***ty in different ways and it still doesn’t justify one of them being physically violent towards another? (In the original sense of the word “violence” rather than in the “your words are are an act of violence against me,” which is a new meaning I only just learned in my ZSL class.)
No no no. I rank them in order of shittiness. Everyone attacks me for the order, screams about how wrong I am, and accuses me of defending the least shitty person on the list, simply by ranking them as least shitty. That’s simply how these things are done.
Right? I’m very much on the “Chris Rock was an asshole and told an asshole joke” side of the whole conversation but I don’t think it’s remotely okay to hit someone for telling a shitty joke.
A littlke guy got smacked in the face by a big guy, and it has been a journey seeing who sides with the big guy, and the knots they will twist themselves into to do it. Culture adores a bully, and they will again, twist and turn themselves so it seems like they’re good for it.
Is Chris rock partially right? Yes. But he also proves will smith right. Keep going after Jada. And not having the balls to go after rappers. He is pretty much saying: i take the cheap shots.Still think the whole situation is weird. Comedians still cry about this. But loius CK gets a award for sexually assaulting women….no one talks about that.
I think Rock’s idea is if he laid off Jada then he’d be giving Will Smith just what Smith wanted. Smith slapped Rock and said to stop talking about his wife. Rock’s response is no, I’m not going to stop. I’m going to double down. And that’s going to hurt Smith even more.At least that’s how I interpreted it.
yeah that 2 (aka i agree). Like i said before…there is no win for will smith ( or anyone else in the crossairs of comedians) these days. They can do and say what they want. And in what ever shap of form it all takes. The “victims” of the “jokes” always have bad luck.The fact that he might think that it hurts will smith is insane. For me again i think will smith was wrong to hit him. But chris rock did target her specificly. And these comedians are crossing lines more and more often.
I get it Jez hates him. But dudes right she fucking fucked her friends fucking son. I mean FFS she may as well have had will take photos
who gives a fucking fuck?
And are you and Chris Rock the Sex Police?No?Then shut the fucking fuck up.
Chris is an awful asshole. Jada is very Brave!! getting that young dick
Policing other people’s relationships is real cool. Kind of seems like he could use another one.
As with all Chris Rock’s specials, there is some problematic stuff in there. Things that would have raised an eyebrow in 2003, let alone 2023. But this article is such a blatant misrepresentation of the special it’s ridiculous. By all means you have a right to say that Rock’s level of offensiveness is something you’d rather pass on. But if you do, I hope it’s because you know his normal material and know it is offensive, and not because of this piece of inaccurate shit on AV Club.I hadn’t watched any Chris Rock in a long time, and this special reminded me why. His use of the N word and B word I could use less of in life. His material seems more persona based than quality joke based. But this has always been true of his stuff and if I remembered that going in I likely would have skipped it. But it did provide me some laughs, and the parts this review complain about, when they are even true, make up for maybe 5 minutes of the set.
aired it’s first live-streamedreally…. it’s?Did the A.V. Club just fire all its copy editors and replace them with twelve-year-old ESL students?
Yes.
I won’t deny the Club has made some egregious spelling and grammar mistakes recently, but this is probably the smallest one you could pick on. It’s an easy one to miss, especially as a lot of possessives have the apostrophe.
I agree that it’s a relatively small error in the grander scheme of what we see here, but in a way this one is worse than the big ones – it’s one that should be seared into the brains of anyone who’s done even a little journalism work.It’s the kind of thing a first-year student would get beaten out of them (figuratively of course) either in their first year at journalism school or within their first year as a professional if they didn’t go to one, though I’d argue that they should probably be better than that going in.
I know AV Club is an “entertainment blog” or what have you rather than a news site, but the journalistic standards here are rock bottom. Beyond the constant typos and grammatical errors people are frequently misquoted, sources are rarely properly attributed, and 90% of the newswires are sloppily modified copy/pastes of other outlets’ reporting that fall just short of outright plagiarism. Going by people’s bios I know a surprising number of staff writers have backgrounds in journalism (well, B.A.s in journalism, anyway). They should know better.
Yep. I’m not expecting the platonic ideal of writing here (or on any sites with a similar profile), but even that lowered bar is being limboed under.Something like “it’s” vs. “its” is the kind of thing that shouldn’t only be expected of journalists. That’s such a rock-bottom, basic thing that, when it’s bungled, it immediately frames that content as something that shouldn’t be taken seriously. After all, if the author(s) and editor(s) couldn’t be arsed to care about something that simple and easy to get right, why should we expect them to care about conveying information correctly?I have a B.Sc. in broadcast journalism and I like to think I give a pretty wide berth to purveyors of information online, but this is a big yikes.
It makes me wonder what the economics of this model versus employing more seasoned writers with depth of knowledge in their categories (movies, music, TV) looks like. I have to assume this is more profitable.
Journalism school? I had elementary school teachers who would have torn me a new one for such a fundamental mistake. I’m not sorry at all for thinking this is an error that should never be made by a professional writer, out of sheer muscle memory.
You shouldn’t be sorry about that – you’re right. It’s basic professionalism, even in situations where you’re not writing for public consumption. And if you are writing for public consumption – whether you’re a journalist, a blogger, writing descriptions for YouTube videos, whatever – it’s even more egregious.
lol they’ve never used copyeditors. Or spellcheck.
I’m gonna fall on my sword and admit, to what is no doubt the shock and disgust of the great and good responding to you here, that I have a bit of an it’s / its blindspot. It’s an elementary error, sure, but it’s also an easy error to make and slip through.That said, no one is paying me to offer my written thoughts on The Slap, I do make an effort to proofread and make sure I’m getting it right, and I certainly make an effort to proofread literally the first sentence of what I’m writing.
“there are some compelling counterpoints going around:”Seriously you couldn’t be assed to find more than 2 tweets from some nobodies to make that point?
Chris Rock: “Hit me harder, Willie.”
Or: “Getting slapped was the boost my career needed since my act went stale at least a decade ago and my best on screen roles involve me getting killed by the end.”
It was a very shitty joke. Making fun of a medical condition and it wasn’t at all funny (fuckin’ GI Jane?). Didn’t deserve a slap for it, though.But he’s doubling down on picking on Jada in front of a wide audience, and for what? She didn’t slap him. The fuck did she do to him?She isn’t your business Chris, mind your own.
I realise quoting jokes in a written article isn’t going to do them justice, but these don’t seem particularly funny to me. Anyone seen the special? How do folks feel about Rock’s comedy in general? I remember liking his “bullet control” routine back in the day, but he’s never struck me as a superstar comedian like, say, Eddie Murphy.
TBF, a lot of Chris’s thing is very much about the delivery of the jokes. His performance is a large part of his popularity and his career.
It is truly fascinating to me to see how people bend over backwards to make out that the guy who got smacked in the face during a live broadcast by a major movie star who has about eight inches and fifteen pounds on him, not to mention apparently a massive fan base who’ll go all-in on him no matter what he does, is somehow the bad guy in all of this.Like, dude told a shitty joke about GI Jane. As sins go, that’s surely on the minor side and not in need of any kind of violent retribution.
I don’t think he’s being judged as the bad guy in “all of this;” he’s being judged on the merits of this special itself. I watched it myself, and while I laughed at a few things, it was pretty hacky overall.
I’m speaking a bit more broadly / generally than just this article, to be fair; there’s plenty of people who seem to indulging in a bit of victim-blaming around all of this.
40* pounds on him
Right, I’ve seen too much “discourse” about “protecting black women” or whatever from people who believe that enforcing deviations from the orthodoxy is important enough to use violence. It was a tame joke, at a venue where everyone knew light roasting was on the table, and Smith is an adult. I don’t get to hit people if they piss me off, because I live in a society.
“at a venue where everyone knew light roasting was on the table”
this is only a recent thing, just like black people getting their flowers at award ceremony. the option shouldn’t be 1)attend an event of peers OR 2)not attend because I don’t want to be the butt of jokes.
Like it or not, words hurt as much as fists. You don’t get to tell someone how to feel in response to a “joke”?
“Like it or not, words hurt as much as fists.” Maybe you should get punched a few times before you say stupid shit like that. Lemme guess, you also condone women being abused by men because they said something “out of line”, amirite?
I wish you could fucking try. People like you talk big when behind a keyboard or when you think polite society will protect you, but as CR learned that ain’t the case. Even that comment about women shows you look to inflame / trigger someone, that shit ought to get you punched in the mouth.
And since you are to fucking stupid to understand how your comment ignore gender fluidity and self identification, let me make it simple for you. If you keep your hands to yourself regardless of gender, there won’t be an issue. Once you decide to get physical, you don’t get to decide how someone responds.
“Once you decide to get physical, you don’t get to decide how someone responds.” So, wait a sec – you *are* OK with what Will Smith did, or you *aren’t*…? ‘Cause you can’t be both, you know. It seems like you’ve got yourself so wound up and angry that you can’t even keep track anymore. Maybe it’s time your parents called you up out of their basement and sat you down for a little chat.
Eat shit asshole
That, or some variation, seems to be your go-to response in place of “Yes, I see your point; I guess I was wrong”…
How to feel? No. How to act? At the level of “you don’t get to punch people,” we all do. “You don’t get to to attack people who make you mad” is the cornerstone of our social contract.
“dude told a shitty joke about GI Jane.”It’s more that he told a shitty joke making fun of a Black woman’s hair loss. I mean, feel free to say that’s no big deal either, but that’s what the outrage was about, not that he made a GI Jane gag.
People make fun of bald dudes all the time, and it’s socially acceptable. We all want equity and equality. Either no bald jokes, ever again, or bald jokes for all.
I had alopecia for years and it was way easier for me to just shave my head than for a woman. I never pretended I had it as bad as a woman with alopecia. That aside, Chris Rock made a whole documentary called Good Hair about issues around Black-American women’s hair, which discussed why it’s problematic to make these kind of jokes, and why it’s not simply about ‘equity and equality’.
It was also the latest in a years-long series of digs he has taken at her in public. Apparently related to him not liking her overstepping boundaries about a hosting gig? If what I’ve read is correct, she shouldn’t have pressured him about his employment. That’s shitty. On the other hand, the appropriate response on his part is not to make a bunch of cracks behind her back at comedy shows. But… you know… typical standup bro passive-aggressive nonsense.
I mean, in total fairness the guy is a stand-up comic. Translating his personal frustrations, dislikes and gripes into jokes he then gets paid to tell in public is kind of part of the job description. Passive-aggressive and not very nice to be on the receiving end of, perhaps, but there it is.
Well, I was being a bit glib, but sure, I’ll amend that to “I’m pretty sure that a shitty joke about Jada Pinkett-Smith’s hair evoking GI Jane is a minor sin not in need of any kind of violent retribution”. Sure, making fun of a woman’s hair-loss is not very nice, but it was also a bit of mildly passive-aggressive roasting at worst.
It’s weirder to me that everyone blames Jada for the actions of her husband, as if her sketchy infidelity FORCED him to attack another person in public.
The lamest throwaway reference to a 25 yr old movie that most ppl have either long forgotten or were never aware of in the first place. It’s not like he said “Hey Will, your wife’s pussy stinks!”
This bozo has nothing nice to say about anyone – he thinks, as do too many of his followers, that nasty insults and attacks are funny. And he should have been punished as much as a certain actor who hit him on stage at the humor free Oscars – he provoked the attack. There are comics out there who are funny. And yes, most jokes are at someone’s expense. But in most cases they are light, not meant to be nasty or harmful. Making nasty comments on stage about someone’s disability or illness is never, ever funny.
he should have been punished as much as a certain actor who hit him on stage at the humor free Oscars – he provoked the attack.It’s a G.I. Jane joke.
Yes, people who provoke attacks should be punished. That’s why I always beat my kids after I’m done beating my kids. They need to be punished for provoking me!
could not find your reply but you typed to me; I generally enjoy watching comics – most are about having some fun, not trying to hurt a decent person. Rock, though, gets his jolleys from causing pain.i 100% agree. He did not used 2. But like several comedians they have gone full lets hurt people mode. and think there are no lines anymore.
Was this written by AI or is there another reason someone doesn’t want to put their name on it?
I mean, would you want to put your name on this garbage? It’s like a compilation of all the worst aspects of this site in its current bastardized form!
AI knows the difference between ‘its’ and ‘it’s’.
“…explaining that Smith “does movies with his shirt off” while he does “a movie getting open heart surgery,”…”You’ve missed the whole point of that joke by deleting the punchline. It’s “I do a movie getting open heart surgery, I got a sweater on!”
Newswire: Some Tweets People Did While Watching Netflix
Oh look. It’s the woman’s fault. Never saw that coming. Shocked. Shocked, I tell you.
how are there so many errors in such a short post? just for one example: the joke was that Chris Rock would keep his shirt on even if his character was getting open heart surgery, not that he does movies where he gets open heart surgery! Then you post random Tweets like this is fucking HuffPo and the first one you post isn’t even accurate (the poster says that Jada never said anything about Chris…he details during the show that she said he shouldn’t host the oscars because Will Smith wasn’t nominated for Concussion…so maybe don’t link a tweet that’s just wrong unless your point is people ignoring what was said and acting on pure outrage)I sometimes like Rock’s preacher cadence where he repeats things, but he repeated phrases way too often in this one…how many times did he say “Robert Kardashian” just to make the same joke about the Kardashians banging black dudes that I have heard SO many times.That said it was a pretty gd funny set, and he made some very funny January 6 jokes…I still don’t quite understand why slipping away and getting drunk on a class trip (in a country where you are of drinking age) gets you actually expelled from school but whatever, I guess it builds character. That just underlines that, along with some of the calcified “men wanting to fuck women gives them all the power” gender stuff etc., that Chris Rock is: an old guy! And not a moral pillar! Dude’s still funny, though
Yeah, she asked him not to host as part of the protest about how white the whole production was. Maybe Will not being nominated is what first set her off, or she used it as an example when talking to Rock, but it wasn’t a straight-up tantrum.
Oscarssowhite was 2015, Rock hosted in 2016 with the understanding that he was going to address the controversy. Also, the Academy had made some kind of attempts to address the controversy, extending invitations to join to a lot of younger and non-white people. Despite this, Jada apparently (and I don’t know why you say you know the tone of her comments) apparently called Rock out for hosting…prompted, so Rock says, by Smith not getting nominated. Now, this isn’t the exact same situation as the Golden Globes where, to my knowledge, they didn’t do a fucking thing to justify getting uncanceled. It also wasn’t like they fixed everything. In any case, Rock apparently feels like he was being called not black enough or unsupportive because Pinkett was having an effective tantrum over Smith not getting nominated…which shouldn’t surprise anyone who knows how incredibly self-absorbed she is from her shows. It must be like being called a corporatist by the Bernie supporter who works for some shitty firm as an accountant, as in: you are trying to pretend to be pure but you would have shown up if Smith was nominated. That’s my read on it, anyway, and I am not likely to devote any more time to thinking about it 😉
Yeah I think I’ve abused my brain enough for one day over this.
There had been no black acting nominees for two years in a row and she was part of a larger boycott. She wasn’t the only person boycotting.
Chris really needs to get some therapy – as do many of these folks.
This what we’re fighting about today?
Yes, it’s what the Koch Brothers™ want.
Yeah but Soros is funding the other side. This could be a years-long war of attrition.
I went and watched it last night. Within the first 3-4 minutes, I had to stop because one of my favorite comics ever had turned into a whiny bitch. Someone very rich who, outside of a slap, has never been targeted by any one in his career, complaining about cancel culture. Just absolutely ridiculous. I fast forward to the last 8-9 mins to catch the rant about Will/Jada and found it ironic that he spent over an hour bitching about selective outrage, only for himself to have selective outrage over the Will/Jada situation. Pathetic.
Chris rock has been always a misogynist since the beginning of his career. He is the typical black man who wants equality only if it is between men. If it involves women than they are a bunch of ungrateful bitches who never looked at me in high school, so now I make money crying about it on Netflix
I guess Everybody really did Hate Chris
He’s not wrong.
I thought it was overall very funny, as Rock’s specials tend to be.
Okay see this just makes Will Smith look better because he’s still going after the dude’s wife when her husband is the one that’s the open target.Is Netflix like, “Double Down Central” for these morons?
Feels like a lot of folks are just mad about this, but are ignoring what was essentially the gist of his joke and argument: that Will was taking out his anger on his own relationship issues on to Chris, similar to the way people often get mad at the person their spouse cheated on with, instead of their spouse, when they find out. This especially is common with men too, who will usually attack the guy their wife is sleeping with (who sometimes may be completely unaware their girl was married / in a relationship in the first place)Also, if you don’t think that women are capable of doing skeezy shit, and then finding ways to turn it around in order to make their man more mad at someone else than themselves, then you don’t really view women as equals. Women, just like anyone else, are fully able to be manipulative assholes. Stop treating them like some innocent little creatures and treat them as the full humans they are, warts and all.
“I’m a zebra, he’s a shark”But Will Smith voiced a little fish, not a shark, in that film. That’s a terrible joke.
Rock never made fun of her illness. Not knowing her claims of Alopecia, he thought she was shaving her head as a fashion statement. If she does have it, she’s sports a lot of full-head stubble and facial hair (brows and eyelashes), thus making it a fairly mild case compared to typical cases with full baldness or bald patches. Even in her famous “look at this pic” she points at what looks like a scar, not a smooth bald “patch”. Given the toxic narcissism that runs in that entire family, I doubt anything that comes out of any of their mouths, except maybe the daughter. Now can we discuss Stevie Wonder catching that microphone?
“ . . . explaining that Smith ‘does movies with his shirt off’ while he does ‘a movie getting open heart surgery,’ You left out the punchline! He said Smith does movies with his shirt off, while if you see Rock in a movie getting open heart surgery, he’d be wearing a sweater. He was contrasting his own physicality to Smith’s, or at least his muscularity.
I don’t particularly enjoy any of the three people in this story, but EITHER being hurt by a spouse and hurt publicly, OR having an open marriage, or some combo of both, doesn’t make you a ‘bitch.’ When people talk reasonably about toxic masculinity that’s part of what they mean. I don’t even know where to get started. Is the bad thing Will did going back to Jada? Is going back to someone you love always bad, even if you have to compromise? Men who choose to do so are weak, simps, emasculated; women who choose to do so are understandable? I guess I don’t get it. Men should be allowed to be vulnerable and to forgive. But of course I don’t know anything about these actual people except their public obnoxiousness, so
The corpse of this site is run by nutless chucklefucks. That’s right keep me in the ‘grays’ assholes.
I randomly looked up an old movie review on this site by Keith Phipps the other day. The chasm in quality between the AV Club a decade ago and whatever this shit is made me want to weep.
Women protecting this cheating Jada smh. She dont deserve no love, least of all from Will. She is destroying this man, and that’s ok with you feminist garbage. I bet you make a habit of cheating with your man as well, and you expecting them to be ok with it. smh.