Chris Rock’s new comedy special, which debuts Saturday live on Netflix at 7 p.m. PT/10 p.m. ET, includes riffs on his ongoing bad blood with Will Smith after last year’s infamous Oscars slap.
According to the New York Post, Rock joked, “I rooted for Will Smith my whole life. The other day, I watched ‘Emancipation’ just so I could watch him getting whipped.”
In “Emancipation,” Smith plays an escaped slave who was known in real life as “Whipped Peter,” due to a photograph of his horrifically scarred back. TheWrap reviewer Carlos Aguilar called the film “unflinchingly grim.” While the bleak Apple TV+ period drama directed by Antoine Fuqua drew praise for Smith’s harrowing performance, it did not get any major awards traction.
Rock has been trying out some of his post-slap material during his “Ego Death” tour,” including an explanation of where he got the title for the new special, which is expected to be the first time he really lets loose about the altercation with Smith, which was set off after Rock joked about Jada Pinkett Smith’s baldness.
“Will Smith practices selective outrage,” the comedian said Feb. 17 at Baltimore’s Hippodrome Theatre, the Baltimore Sun reported. “People who are in the know, know that s— had nothing to do with me.”
The comedian and actor is the first artist to perform a live-streaming Netflix special. A trailer dropped. A teaser trailer for “Selective Outrage” from January did not include any actual jokes.
