Chris Rock Appears to Tear Up Discussing Will Smith

Chris Rock's fans appeared to get emotional during his Netflix special Selective Outrage while discussing last year's infamous Will Smith slap.

The 58-year-old comedian performed his latest show in a live Netflix event, which has become a major talking point for his jokes about Meghan Markle and Will Smith—particularly the Smith slapping him onstage during last year's Academy Awards after he made a joke about his wife, Jada Pinkett Smith, being bald. Pinkett Smith has alopecia, a condition that causes hair loss.

Fans have been waiting almost a year for Rock to fully address the incident, with the comedian only mentioning it briefly in the past, including jokingly asking if the man who tackled his friend, Dave Chappelle onstage last year was Smith. He finally called out the couple at the end of his Netflix set.

Rock brought up how much the slap hurt him physically but suggested it was nowhere near the hurt Smith felt when he was interviewed by his wife on Red Table Talk after admitting to having an affair with August Alsina.

He made multiple jokes about Smith during the seven-minute segment but also admitted that previously he'd loved the actor. Rock joked that he was hit so hard, he had Smith's song "Summertime" ringing in his ears. He also made light of Smith's movie Emancipation, in which he played a slave, with Rock saying he watched the movie just to see Smith "get whooped."

After bringing an end to his set, he took the Baltimore crowd's applause, raising his arms to thank them. However, Rock never smiled during the standing ovation, instead keeping an intently serious look on his face. He remained stone-faced the entire time before walking off stage.

He appeared to take deep breaths as he walked around the stage, with his eyes glistening while taking in the adulation. Viewers of Selective Outrage at home acknowledged that Rock seemed emotional at times while talking about Smith, too.

"Chris Rock was emotional just trying to finish the set," Twitter user @Scott_618 wrote online. "Some of you get why that was and some of you don't."

"Have never seen Chris Rock this emotional, bruh," another Twitter user, @Emac_Jay wrote as he shared a clip of Rock's set, which has been viewed almost 5 million times online.

At one point during the live show, Rock messed up a joke as he recalled the wrong title of a Will Smith movie, though he quickly corrected himself. "You can tell how emotional the Will Smith thing is for him cause that seemed to be the only time all night where he botched a joke doing this live," @ScottKacsmar commented.

Rock didn't shy away from using profanities during the set and called Smith a "b****" multiple times. "I think Chris Rock waited too long. That lil 'b****' part came off hella emotional..." wrote Twitter Blue subscriber Daveon James.

Another commenter added, "Bro was emotional and really had to get that off his chest. I don't blame him."

The comments continued across social media platforms with multiple people on Twitter and Reddit commenting that he "looked like he wanted to cry" during the set.

Will and Jada have yet to respond to Rock's stand-up set publicly. Smith did address the situation in July 2022 when he returned to social media. He said he'd reached out to Rock by then, but the two still hadn't spoken. Smith resigned from the Academy, which announced that he was banned from the Oscars and all related events for 10 years.