Chris Rock Called Out for Joking He Watched ‘Emancipation’ to See Will Smith Get Whipped

Chris Rock has been testing out new stand-up material about the Will Smith Oscars slap, and he recently joked he watched Emancipation just to see the actor getting whipped, per Huffington Post.

Ahead of his live stand-up performance on Netflix this Saturday, Rock played a number of shows where he joked about the moment he got hit by Smith at the 94th Academy Awards last year. “The thing people wanna know…did it hurt? Hell yeah it hurt,” he was quoted as saying at one gig. “He played Muhammad Ali! I played Pookie [in New Jack City]. Even in animated movies I’m a zebra, he’s a fucking shark. I got hit so hard, I heard ‘Summertime’ ringing in my ears.”

One joke, however, stands out. “The other day, I watched Emancipation just so I could watch him getting whipped,” Rock reportedly said, per the New York Post. 

It remains to be seen if the material will make it into the live stand-up special when it streams on March 4, but it’s clear Rock is ready to make references to the infamous moment, which resulted in Smith getting banned from the Oscars.

It’s also clear that people already have strong opinions on the matter. In the historical drama Emancipation, Smith portrays a runaway slave who is loosely based on the conglomerated story of two formerly enslaved Black men.

Check out some Twitter reactions to Rock’s comments below.