CNN
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Chris Rock finally delivered the Oscars clap and made Netflix history on Saturday with the platform’s first live global streaming event.
“I’m going to try to do a show tonight without offending anyone. I’m going to do my best because you never know who’s going to be triggered,” Rock said opening his set from Baltimore. “People always say words hurt… anyone who says words has never been punched in the face.”
After that quick clear reference to Will Smith punching him on stage at last year’s Academy Awards, Rock saved his jokes about the incident until the last ten minutes of the show.
“You all know what happened to me when Shug Smith hit me,” Rock said. “It still hurts. I got ‘Summertime’ ringing in my ears. But I’m not a victim, baby. You’ll never see me cry at Oprah or Gayle… I took that hit like Pacquiao.
Rock suggested that Smith’s response to his Oscar joke about his wife, Jada Pinkett Smith, was more about their relationship than him.
“I’ve loved Will Smith all my life,” Rock said. “I’ve rooted for Will Smith all my life… now I watch ‘Emancipation’ to see him cheer.”
Smith plays an enslaved man in the period drama “Emancipation.”
“‘How come you didn’t do anything that night?'” Rock said people have been asking him. ‘Because I have parents. Do you know what my parents taught me? Don’t fight in front of white people.”
Titled “Chris Rock: Selective Outrage,” the comedian covered a wide variety of topics in the first 50 minutes of the special, including addiction, abortion, racism in America, Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex, the Kardashian family, and “awake become’.
“I have no problem being awake. I have no problem with it at all. I’m all for social justice. I am all for marginalized people getting their rights. What I have a problem with is the selective outrage,” Rock said. ‘You know what I’m talking about. One person does something, they get canceled. Someone else does the exact same thing, nothing. You know what I’m talking about… the kind of people who play Michael Jackson songs but don’t want to play R. Kelly. Same crime, one of them just has better songs.
Addressing the division of the country, Rock said, “America is in a terrible state right now.”
“We have it worse than Ukraine. Yes, I said it. You know why? Because Ukraine is united and America is clearly divided,” Rock joked. “If the Russians came here now, half the country would say, ‘Let’s listen to them.’ We’re in a bad place right now.”
Rock also dug into his romantic life, saying that when he noticed his pillowcases were dirty, he realized how much women do to men.
“I try to date women my age, who are 10 to 15 years younger than me,” he said. “Don’t hate the player, hate the game. I didn’t get rich and stay in shape talking about Anita Baker. I’m trying to f…
The performance was Rock’s sixth stand-up special and his second for Netflix after 2018’s “Tamborine,” directed by Bo Burnham.
A pre-show event kicked off with comedian Ronny Chieng live from Los Angeles where he told the audience, “We could have pre-recorded all of this and no one would have cared, but we are doing this for a noble cause : to finally try to eradicate traditional TV and put it out of its misery. In fact, if you listen closely, you can hear Baby Boomers canceling the last cable subscriptions.”
There was also a post-show special featuring comedians Arsenio Hall, Dana Carvey, David Spade, Yvone Orji, and more.
