Chris Rock’s Will Smith’s Sloppy Joke Was Removed From Netflix Special

TV

By Brooke Steinberg

March 10, 2023 | 10:54

It was the slap in the face heard around the world – but the world won’t hear one of Chris Rock’s jokes about it.

A joke about Will Smith on The Rock’s Netflix special “Chris Rock: Selective Outrage” has been removed after the comedian spoiled it during the live broadcast.

Rock, 58, joked about Smith, 54, and his wife Jada Pinkett Smith, 51, near the end of his March 4 show, specifically discussing a conversation he claims he had with them at about his hosting gig for the 2016 Oscars when he missed the joke.

“Years ago his wife said I should quit the Oscars; I shouldn’t be hosting because her man wasn’t nominated for ‘Emancipation,’ the biggest piece of shit ever!” Rock said during Netflix’s first-ever global live stream event. “No , not ‘Emancipation’, I screwed up the joke.”

The comedian wanted to reference the 2015 sports drama “Concussion,” a film based on the true story of neuropathologist Dr Bennet Omalu, played by Smith, who was the first to discover CTE, a football-related traumatic brain injury.

Rock continued and continued the joke properly, “She started this shit. She said that I, a grown man, should quit her job because “My husband wasn’t nominated for ‘Concussion'”.

That part of the special has now been deleted, and a source told The Hollywood Reporter that Rock was aware of the edit and worked with Netflix on the final edit which is now available for people to stream.

The 2016 Oscars was the same year that Pinkett Smith boycotted the ceremony from the #OscarsSoWhite movement, which protested the Academy’s history of lack of diversity.

Last year, Smith slapped Rock after the comedian made a joke about Pinkett Smith’s hair – which Smith took as a blow to his wife’s battle with alopecia. The tone-deaf comment inspired the actor to rush the stage at the Los Angeles Dolby Theater and punch Rock in the face.

Meanwhile, it was reported that Smith was “embarrassed and hurt” by Rock’s comments during the special.

“Will is embarrassed and hurt by what Chris said about him and his family in his Netflix special,” a source told Entertainment Tonight. “He didn’t watch it, but people told him what Chris said,” the insider continued, adding, “Will and Jada saw comments about it.”

“Will has apologized to Chris and would like Chris to let it go,” the source added.

Smith reportedly feels Netflix made an “unpleasant” move by airing Rock’s special.