This weekend is the Academy Awards, marking the anniversary of last year’s unprecedented ceremony. It’s going to be a long time before anyone forgets how Will Smith walked on stage and slapped Chris Rock after the comedian made a crack at Jada Pinkett Smith’s appearance. While Rock had largely kept quiet on the controversy over the last year, his new Netflix special Selective Outrage revealed his perspective and took aim at the Smith family. And there’s one thing Jada Pinkett Smith was reportedly not happy about when it came to Chris Rock’s Netflix special.
There has been non-stop discourse about The Slap over the last year, with plenty of conversation surrounding who was at blame, including the Film Academy. Chris Rock has largely kept quiet as Will Smith worked on his comeback, but that changed with the release of Selective Outrage. And per a report by People, Jada Pinkett Smith was “shocked at how many times Chris used the word bitch in referring to Jada.” She’s also reportedly taking umbrage with claims he made about her telling him not to host the Oscars.
During his set in Selective Outrage, Chris Rock says that Jada Pinkett Smith told him to drop out of hosting the Academy Awards years ago, due to Will Smith not getting nominated for his role in Concussion. While she didn’t attend that year, a source told People that she didn’t have that interaction with Rock, being quoted saying:
She never asked Chris to not host the Oscars ever. She publicly said in a Facebook post at the time Chris would be a great Oscars host and is perfect for the job.
It’s been a year since the 2022 Academy Awards, so the Smiths and Chris Rock have had a ton of time to work through their feelings about The Slap. But between the impending Oscars and the release of Chris Rock’s special, all of a sudden it all feels fresh and new again. It’ll be interesting to see if this has an effect on any possible road to reconciliation between Rock and Smith.
Smart money says there will be at least one or two references to The Slap at this year’s Oscars. The Academy has gone so far as to assemble a crisis team for future ceremonies. Although with Will Smith banned from the Academy Awards for the next decade, if that team is used it’ll be in response to another individual. Hopefully, there’s no more scuffles like this in the foreseeable future.
As previously mentioned, Will Smith has been in the midst of his professional comeback, including the release of Antoine Fuqua’s Emancipation. Unfortunately, that project failed to get much attention this Awards Season, although there have been some exceptions.
Chris Rock’s Selective Outrage is streaming now on Netflix, and Will Smith has exciting future projects coming down the line including Bad Boys 4. In the meantime, check out the 2023 movie release dates to plan your next movie experience.