‘The View’ Hosts Give Their Thoughts on Chris Rock’s Netflix Special
A year after Will Smith slapped Chris Rock at the 2022 Academy Awards, Rock took the stage for his Netflix special Selective Outrage in March 2023 and took aim at Smith with his comedy. The special drew praise from many, including co-hosts at The View.
Chris Rock shared his thoughts about the Will Smith slap in his Netflix special ‘Selective Outrage’
Chris Rock worked in plenty of jabs at Will Smith in his Selective Outrage special. “The other day, I watched Emancipation just so I could watch him getting whipped,” he joked in his set.
Rock went on to speak about Smith’s unconventional relationship with his wife Jada Pinkett Smith and her infamous “entanglement” that led to news about their marriage becoming public.
“We all been cheated on. Everybody in here’s been cheated on,” Rock said. “None of us have ever been interviewed by the person that cheated on us on television. ‘Hey, I was sucking somebody’s d**k. How did that make you feel?'”
Rock said that he called Smith to offer his “condolences” after the entanglement drama became public, but he didn’t pick up the phone. Rock joked that he’d been through enough already.
“She hurt him way more than he hurt me, OK?” the comedian joked. “Everybody in the world called him a b****… They called his wife a predator. And who does he hit? Me. A n**** he knows he can beat. That is some b**** a** s***.”
‘The View’ co-hosts weighed in on Chris Rock’s Netflix special
After Netflix aired Rock’s live special, the co-hosts of The View shared their thoughts on his routine.
“He responded on a $40 million Netflix special, which I think is brilliant,” Sunny Hostin started off. “That was his truth, that’s how he experienced it.”
“He’s entitled to say his truth,” Ana Navarro added. “I’m even happier that he’s making money out of it. I think the timing has everything to do with the Oscars that are next week and the fact that it’s a year from now. I think the show was funny as hell.”
“He’s a comedian, so we’re not going to agree with everything,” Navarro added. “But baby, laugh all the way to the bank.”
“By the way, he kept her name out of his mouth [during the special],” she continued jokingly. “He called her all sorts of other things, but he didn’t say ‘Jada.'”
Whoop Goldberg, meanwhile, commended the comedian by saying, “He’s not afraid of saying how he feels.”
“His ability to say what he sees is great and, you know what, this situation is never going to find a really good way to calm down. It’s just not,” Goldberg added. “There’s no justification for what happened.”
What Will Smith has said about the Chris Rock slap
Will Smith has issued public apologies to Chris Rock since the infamous slap, but has yet to speak to the comedian directly.
“I’ve reached out to Chris, and the message that came back is that he’s not ready to talk. And when he is, he will reach out,” Smith said in a July 2022 Instagram video “So I will say to you, Chris: I apologize to you. My behavior was unacceptable, and I’m here whenever you’re ready to talk.”
