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Chris Rock‘s long-awaited public response to being slapped by actor Will Smith at the 2022 Oscars has been met with high praise – with some calling the ‘best brutal takedown’ in history.
During his new Netflix standup special which premiered live Saturday night, Rock verbally hit back at Smith a year after the incident that saw Smith banned from the Academy.
In a nearly two minute segment, Rock fired off at Smith’s decision to slap him on the stage at the awards ceremony after he and wife Jada Pinkett-Smith had been made the butt of the joke over her infidelity.
‘Everybody called him a b**ch, and who’s he hitting? Me,’ Rock joked to a crowd that included a friend of Meghan Markle‘s who was spotted laughing backstage, according to Page Six.
The comedian also took aim at the former ‘Suits’ actress during his special, saying she was ‘acting all dumb’ for not realizing the royal family are the ‘OGs of racism.’
Chris Rock finally publicly addressed being slapped by actor Will Smith at the 2022 Oscars in what some are calling the ‘best brutal takedown’ in history
During his new Netflix standup special which premiered live Saturday night, Rock hit back at Smith a year after the incident that saw Smith banned from the Academy
Among those spotted in the audience laughing during the special was Janina Gavankar who was seen chuckling at jokes Rock made about Will Smith and her own friend, Meghan Markle
Rock’s rant has since been applauded on social media as ‘the perfect/best way’ to get back at Smith for the moment that changed both of their careers.
The comedian made audience members and live viewers wait until the last ten minutes of ‘Chris Rock: Selective Outrage’ before he addressed the slap.
‘You all know what happened to me, getting smacked by Suge Smith,’ the comedian joked. Rock said: ‘It still hurts. I got ‘Summertime’ ringing in my ears.’
The slap occurred last year after Rock made a joke about Pinkett-Smith’s bald head, caused by alopecia.
Rock had joked that Pinkett-Smith was rocking a ‘G.I. Jane’ look which caused her husband to storm the stage and slap him, followed by him repeating: ‘Keep my wife’s name out your f***ing mouth!’
During his new standup special, Rock joked about his struggle in the year since.
‘Anybody that say “words hurt” has never been punched in the face,’ he said.
‘But I’m not a victim, baby. You’ll never see me on Oprah or Gayle crying,’ Rock said. He joked that he ‘took that s**t like [Manny] Pacquaio.’
The crowd in the audience laughed out loud while those at home took to social media to give their thoughts.
‘Like most comedians I’m continuously grateful for the existence of Chris Rock. Thank you comedy gods,’ wrote fellow comedian Jim Gaffigan.
‘Listen me when I tell you. THIS IS THE MOST SAVAGE MIC DROP OF ALL TIME. NUF RESPEC,’ wrote on Twitter user.
That user was referencing the mic drop at the end of his special when he responds to those who have asked why he didn’t slap Smith back, saying: ‘You know what my parents taught me? Don’t fight in front of white people.’
Fellow comedian Jim Gaffigan thanked the comedy gods for Chris Rock after his special
Twitter users applauded the comedian for his hits Saturday night
‘Good for you Rock,’ wrote one person who praised the comedian
The internet quickly turned bits of the standup special into memes
‘Chris Rock slapped Will Smith the perfect/best way,’ said one Twitter user who quoted a tweet which included a snippet of the standup special.
‘This is someone who is still processing what happened,’ said another user. ‘He knows he just delivered a slap down and he slapped Smith hard. But in his eyes, as he’s taking a bow, you can see the emotion, the anger, the pain. Good for you Rock.’
‘Chris Rock just slapped Will Smith the right way on stage,’ said one person.
Not all on social media have sided with the comedian, however.
Others took to Twitter to express their frustration that Rock has repeatedly ‘punched down’ at black women including Meghan Markle and Pinkett-Smith.
‘Chris Rock called Jada Pinkett-Smith a b**ch and said Meghan Markle played the race card. Punching down on Black women. Clownery,’ wrote one verified user.
‘I want to ask Rock, “you feel better after that?” Let me be clear… I’m NOT excusing Smith’s actions at the Oscars. However, for me, I’ll always know that Rock missed a MASSIVE opportunity to be the bigger man in this situation and teach a valuable lesson. He squandered it,’ wrote Variety editor Clayton Davis.
‘I think he needs to let this go though, I know what happened to him was bad but it just looks like a brother putting another brother down when is already on the floor. Nothing uplifting about this,’ said one person.
Not all on social media were in support of the jokes Rock made during his stand up special
Some said he ‘needs to let this go’ and move on from the slap
One person said Rock ‘squandered’ his opportunity to be the bigger man
Among those in the audience who did find it funny was reportedly Meghan Markle’s longtime friend Janina Gavankar.
According to Page Six, Gavankar was backstage for the live taping Saturday and watched as Rock made jokes about her friend.
Sources told the outlet that Gavankar, 42, was with her friend Dave Chapelle to watch the performance at Baltimore’s Hippodrome Theater.
‘Janina looked to be enjoying the show very much, she was standing up by the TV screens and laughing,’ one eyewitness said.
Rock made jokes about Meghan and Prince Harry during his set, specifically regarding their interview with Oprah and how a royal had allegedly raised concerns over the skin color of their children.
On Saturday, Rock said that the former actress was just dealing with ‘in-law s**t.’
‘Like, who is this girl Meghan Markle? Seems like a nice lady – just complaining,’ Rock said.
‘Like, didn’t she hit the light-skinned lottery?” Rock joked as he called the royal family the ‘OGs of racism.’
The comedian said Markle was ‘acting all dumb’ for going on Oprah and saying she didn’t know how racist the royal family could be.
‘That’s the royal family, you didn’t Google those motherf***ers? They’re the original racists. They invented colonialism,’ he joked.
‘They invested in slavery like it was “Shark Tank,”‘ he continued.
It’s unclear if Gavankar laughed at jokes aimed at her friend, but Page Six reported that she had attended other shows where the material was recited.
Rock made jokes about Meghan and Prince Harry during his set, specifically regarding their interview with Oprah
The comedian said Markle was ‘acting all dumb’ for going on Oprah and saying she didn’t know how racist the royal family could be
After the Sussexes interview with Oprah in 2021, Gavankar (seen here at the wedding of Meghan and Harry) went on television stations in the United Kingdom to defend her friend
Gavankar is a longtime friend of Markle and attended the royal wedding in 2018
Gavankar is a longtime friend of Markle and attended the royal wedding in 2018.
After the Sussexes interview with Oprah in 2021, the ‘Vampire Diaries’ actress went on television stations in the United Kingdom to defend her friend.
‘Though their “recollections may vary,” ours don’t because we lived through it with them,” Gavankar said at the time.
‘And there are many emails and texts to support that,’ she said on ‘This Morning.’
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