Chris Rock has made new comments about the incident at the Oscars in 2022, revealing that he has 'hate watched' Will Smith’s latest movie Emancipation.
While performing a stand-up show in Baltimore just days before his upcoming Netflix special, Selective Outrage, Chris told the theatre: "I rooted for Will Smith my whole life… The other day, I watched ‘Emancipation’ just so I could watch him getting whipped." See the infamous moment Will took to the stage to hit Chris here…
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Chris also told the crowd: "Will Smith practices selective outrage… People who are in the know, know that [expletive] had nothing to do with me."
The star’s upcoming Netflix Live special is set to stream live on Saturday 4 March at 10 pm ET (and Sunday at 3 am GMT), where it is believed that Chris will finally properly discuss the now-infamous incident.
Will struck Chris at the Oscars
On the other hand, Will has spoken about the incident extensively and has publicly apologised to both Chris and the Academy.
Reflecting on his actions in November 2022 in an interview with Trevor Noah, the Emancipation actor said: "There are many nuances and complexities to it. But at the end of the day, I just - I lost it, you know? I was going through something that night, you know? Not that that justifies my behaviour at all… It was a lot of things.
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"It was the little boy that watched his father beat up his mother, you know? All of that just bubbled up in that moment. That is not who I want to be. I was gone. That was a rage that had been bottled for a really long time."
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