In the comedy special ‘Selective Outrage’, the comedian opened up about last year’s Academy Awards: Will, Jada, the slap…
Saturday treated us all to a deeply strange night of television. Poor Chris Pine and his gorgeous pink suit got gunned down at the Kids’ Choice Awards. Travis Kelce was the host of Saturday night Live, and somehow did twice as well as last week’s host, Woody Harrelson. Meanwhile, Netflix had its subscribers trapped in a virtual waiting room (!) waiting to see their first live comedy special, Chris Rock: Selective Outrage.
The experience of trying to see Selective Outrage it was strange in itself. Netflix treated the Rock special like it was a pseudo-comedy Super Bowl, rounding out the event with a preshow and an aftershow. The preamble, hosted by Ronny Chieng, featured a New Year’s Eve-style timer ticking off the minutes until Rock would take the stage. The after party inexplicably featured Kareem Abdul-Jabbar breaking up the special, saying that if he had been on the stage at last year’s Oscars instead of Chris Rock, Will Smith wouldn’t have dared slap him.
what can we say about Selective Outrage? After all, this is Chris Rock – one of the greatest comedians of all time, as a series of celebrity tribute videos compiled by Netflix reminded us (including Matthew McConaughey?!) – so the special it was a delight.
Of course, Rock and Netflix must have known that many people were going to stay home to watch the special: the comedian’s first lengthy tirade about the 2022 Oscars, when Smith slapped him for making a joke about his wife, Jada. “I bet anything Will Smith slaps a television set tonight,” Arsenio Hall said during the preview.
Although it could be argued that Meghan Markle received more criticism in Selective Outrage than Will and Jada together, the truth is that Rock complied. On his recent Ego Death tour, Rock joked about the slap, but never for more than a minute or two. On Saturday night, he dedicated the end of his performance to the incident. Early on, he included Smith in the special’s critique of selective outrage—Rock’s term for being picky and inconsistent with who and what you point at. “Will Smith practices selective outrage,” Rock said. “Outrage because everyone knows what the hell happened. Everyone who really knows knows that I had nothing to do with that shit. I had no entanglement.”
Rock took aim at Pinkett-Smith and his talk show, Red Table Talk, at first, saying, “His wife was fucking his son’s friend… And we’ve all been fooled. Everybody here has been fooled. None of us. of us have been interviewed by the person who cheated on us on television.
“She did more damage to him than he did to me,” added Rock. “Everybody called her a bitch. I tried calling the son of a bitch. I tried calling that guy and giving him my condolences. She didn’t take it.” For his part, Rock took a bit more of the upper hand when he specifically addressed Smith. “I loved Will Smith,” he said. “All my life I’ve loved Will Smith… He makes great movies. I’ve supported Will Smith all my life. And now I see towards freedom just to see him get beat up.”
rock closed Selective Outrage answering why he did not retaliate against the slap. “Because I have parents,” she said. “Because they raised me. And you know what my parents taught me? Don’t fight in front of white people.”
Rock then put down the mic and we picked up with Kareem, David Spade and Dana Carvey at the aftershow, all apparently confused about what they were doing there. As I said! A strange night.
Source: Fotogramas
Rose James is a Gossipify movie and series reviewer known for her in-depth analysis and unique perspective on the latest releases. With a background in film studies, she provides engaging and informative reviews, and keeps readers up to date with industry trends and emerging talents.
