Chris Rock’s live show on Netflix didn’t go without an edit to the special’s recorded version, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Rock, who filmed the “Selective Outrage” special last weekend, went all in on Will Smith following a lengthy period of mostly silence regarding the “Fresh Prince” actor’s infamous 2022 Oscars slap.
The comedian, however, didn’t accurately deliver one of his jokes about Jada Pinkett Smith, which led to the quip getting cut from a recorded version of the special posted to the streaming platform.
“Years ago, his wife said I should quit the Oscars – I shouldn’t host ‘cause her man didn’t get nominated for ‘Emancipation,’ the biggest piece of shit ever. No, not ‘Emancipation,’ I fucked up the joke,” Rock of his 2016 Oscars hosting gig. But he meant to refer to Smith’s film “Concussion.”
Rock was aware of the later edit, according to the Hollywood Reporter. After initially tripping up, he recovered during the live special.
“She started this shit. She said that me, a fucking grown-ass man, should quit his job because, ‘My husband didn’t get nominated for ‘Concussion,’” said Rock, referring to a past ceremony that Pinkett Smith boycotted amid the #OscarsSoWhite controversy.
Rock’s special arrived just ahead of this year’s Academy Awards on Sunday.
Smith hit Rock onstage last year after the comedian made a joke regarding Pinkett Smith’s alopecia. The actor has reportedly tried “unsuccessfully” to clean up his friendship with Rock in the wake of the slap.
A source told People that Smith is “better but still remorseful” as his family “has helped him look inside and mature” over the past year.