
Audio By Carbonatix
Chris Rock finally addressed the Oscars slap and made Netflix history on Saturday, with the platform’s first live global streaming event.
“I’m going to try to do a show tonight without offending nobody. I’m going to try my best, because you never know who might get triggered,” Rock said as he opened his set from Baltimore. “People always say words hurt … anybody who says words hurt has never been punched in the face.”
After that quick apparent reference to Will Smith slapping him on stage at last year’s Academy Awards, Rock saved his jokes about the incident until the last ten minutes of the show.
“You all know what happened to me, getting smacked by Suge Smith,” Rock said. “It still hurts. I got ‘Summertime’ ringing in my ears. But I’m not a victim, baby. You’ll never see me on Oprah or Gayle crying … I took that hit like Pacquiao.”
Rock suggested Smith’s response to his Oscars joke about his wife, Jada Pinkett Smith, was more about their relationship than him.
“I love Will Smith, my whole life,” Rock said. “I have rooted for Will Smith my whole life … now I watch ‘Emancipation’ just to see him get whupped.”
Smith plays an enslaved man in the period drama, “Emancipation.”
“‘How come you didn’t do nothing back that night?’” Rock said people have asked him. “Because I got parents. You know what my parents taught me? Don’t fight in front of White people.”
Titled “Chris Rock: Selective Outrage,” the comedian hit on a wide range of topics in the first 50 minutes of the special, including addiction, abortion, racism in America, Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, the Kardashian family and “wokeness.”
“I have no problem with the wokeness. I have no problem with it at all. I’m all for social justice. I’m all for marginalized people getting their rights. The thing I have a problem with is the selective outrage,” Rock said.
“You know what I’m talking about. One person does something, they get cancelled. Somebody else does the exact same thing, nothing. You know what I’m talking about … the kind of people who play Michael Jackson songs but won’t play R. Kelly. Same crime, one of them just has better songs.”

Tackling the country’s division, Rock said, “America is in horrible shape right now.”
“We got it worse than Ukraine. Yeah, I said it. You know why? Because Ukraine is united and America is clearly divided,” Rock joked. “If the Russians came here right now, half the country would say, ‘Let’s hear them out.’ We’re in a bad place right now.”
Rock also delved into his romantic life, saying when he noticed his pillowcases were dirty, he realized how much women do for men.
“I’m trying to date women my age, which is 10 to 15 years younger than me,” he said. “Don’t hate the player, hate the game. I didn’t get rich and stay in shape to talk about Anita Baker. I’m trying to f— Doja Cat.”
The performance was Rock’s sixth standup special and his second for Netflix after 2018’s “Tamborine,” directed by Bo Burnham.
A pre-show event kicked off with comedian Ronny Chieng live from Los Angeles, where he told the crowd, “We could have pretaped this whole thing and nobody would have cared, but we are doing this for a noble cause: To finally try to kill off traditional TV and put it out of its misery. In fact, if you listen hard you can hear Baby Boomers cancelling the last cable subscription packages.”
There was also a post-show special with comedians Arsenio Hall, Dana Carvey, David Spade, Yvonne Orji and more.
Latest Stories
-
Ghanaian’s death not connected to anti-immigration protests — Leader of Concerned Ghanaians in South Africa
4 minutes -
Conflicting reports on Ghanaian’s death in South Africa disturbing — Jinapor
14 minutes -
Ryanair warns of ‘queue chaos’ from new EU border system
17 minutes -
Akatsi South MCE calls for more support as 13 schools receive dual desks
18 minutes -
Ghana Sports Fund boss courts global support for youth sports development
21 minutes -
China says pilot crashed small plane into skyscraper for ‘personal reasons’
33 minutes -
Police intercept 50,000 rounds of ammunition in Upper West, arrest three suspects
34 minutes -
Vatican excommunicates hundreds of thousands of splinter sect followers
36 minutes -
Access Plus Communications launches ‘Eye Focus App’ to broaden reach of AI-powered vision screening
36 minutes -
Asiedu Nketiah urges African leaders to match economic rhetoric with action
38 minutes -
24-Hour Economy Authority and Petrochemical Holdings GmbH partner to establish 2 projects in Ghana
42 minutes -
Accra Floods: Greater Accra Minister directs MMDCEs to ensure fair distribution of relief items
46 minutes -
Ghana must balance Climate Action with Energy Security – Experts urge
50 minutes -
Boycotting South African goods not the solution to xenophobic attacks — Prof Antwi-Danso
51 minutes -
Discipline must build unity, not endanger victory
58 minutes