“Jada, I love you, G.I. Jane 2, can’t wait to see it!”
The 2022 Chris Rock X Will Smith slap incident remains one of the most infamous moments in Oscars history. Rock was onstage presenting Best Documentary Feature at the 94th Academy Awards when he joked about Jada Pinkett Smith’s shaved head, comparing it to Demi Moore’s look in G.I. Jane.
Smith walked onstage and slapped him. After returning to his seat, he shouted,
“Keep my wife’s name out of your – mouth.”
Pinkett Smith has publicly discussed living with alopecia, which causes hair loss. Smith later won Best Actor for King Richard. The Academy banned him from its events for 10 years.
Rock did not file a police report. He largely avoided a long sit-down about the slap for years, though he eventually worked the moment into stand-up, including a bit about getting hit so hard he heard “Summertime” ringing in his ears.|
Rock hosted the Oscars in 2005 and 2016. He was a presenter in 2022, not the host, despite how often people remember the night that way. Asked whether he would emcee the show again, he declined to undercut the people already doing the job:
“When people answer those questions, they’re being disrespectful to the people that got the gig,” he said. “They have great hosts. Conan O’Brien is amazing. Nikki Glaser is amazing on the Golden Globes. I’m not going to say never, but my time might have passed, honestly.”
Asked how he feels about the slap now, Rock said
“I wish nothing would have happened.”
“And also, I don’t want to say anything that takes any attention away from Rosalind and how good she is in this movie. It’s a wild world. We walk by homeless people. There’s all sorts of – going on right now. Me having a bad day is not the biggest – it’s not that important.”
More than four years after Will Smith slapped him on live television, Chris Rock says only one circumstance would bring him back to the Academy Awards….
In a Variety interview published Tuesday, Chris made it clear he isn’t planning a casual return to the ceremony and doesn’t expect the Academy to come calling. The comments come as Rock prepares for the world premiere of Misty Green, his first feature as a director since Top Five in 2014.
He said:
“I’m not getting nominated.” “The only way I’ll go back is if I’m nominated, and I’m not getting nominated. And that’s OK. We’ll deal with that if it happens. Like, let’s manage expectations.”
Rosalind Eleazar stars as a once-successful actress whose career, money, and Hollywood standing have slipped away as she fights for a second act and tries to support her mentally ill brother, played by Daniel Kaluuya. Rock also appears in the film alongside Adam Driver, Anna Kendrick, and Topher Grace.
Will it start the invitation process he needs?
