Some viewers of Chris Rock’s new comedy special thought he was a little too harsh with his verbal lashes at Will Smith.
Chris Rock returned to the spotlight on Saturday with the debut of its live comedy special Chris Rock: Selective outrage on Netflix. The special came a year after the incident at the Academy Awards where Rock was punched on stage by actor Will Smith, sparking one of Hollywood’s most publicized controversies in years. As expected, Rock had a lot to say about the situation in his new special, the first time he addressed the fiasco in a public manner.
Rock took aim at Smith and didn’t hold back, using his comedy to push the King Richard star. Rock spoke about the marital problems between Smith and wife Jada and even joked that he enjoyed watching Emancipation just to watch Smith get beaten. The jokes were fierce, and some viewers on Twitter even felt the comedian took his verbal criticism too far, regardless of whether he was physically assaulted by Smith last year.
“Remember when Chris Rock knocked Jada down because of her alopecia condition,” Reecie Colbert tweeted. “Any distraction he does to bring up entanglements is gaslighting. He knows the world hates a black woman with sexual agency, so he should make that the subject, not how he violated and humiliated her.”
Another tweet reads: “Chris Rock was beaten by Will and he handled it well, but now he’s taking it way too far by using the joke as profit and clout for comedy. Will’s career is over. Chris is taking advantage, not to mention not to mention the fact that he made a Michael Jackson joke. He’s an idiot.”
As another tweeter puts it, “Honestly Chris Rock should have been had he been knocked out of him because he always goes WAAAAAAYYYY too far.”
Did Chris Rock go too far?
Obviously some people weren’t thrilled with the special, but that doesn’t mean it was packed with viewers. There were others who found the special hilarious, and the barbs against Smith in particular well deserved. Some say this is a matter of revenge for getting punched at the Oscars, arguing that physical assault is still worse than anything Rock could have said. Some fans even say Rock didn’t go far enough.
“People say Chris Rock ‘does too much’ and ‘goes too far’…the guy got punched in the face on national TV…I think he can go as far as he damn well wants to,” as one fan says.
“The view here that Chris Rock went too far is just absurd,” says another. “Comedy comes at the expense of someone or something. He was physically assaulted in front of the world for making a GI Jane joke. Fully charge those toxic two.”
You can stream Chris Rock: Selective outrage on Netflix. You can see more reactions people have to the new special below.