The success of “Bad Boys: Ride or Die” is a sign that the public is ready to move on from Will Smith’s 2022 Oscars slap. Yes, there will always be a portion of the audience who can’t get past the shocking moment. Most notably, comedians.
In case you need a refresher, Chris Rock was on stage presenting the award for Best Documentary Feature when he made jokes about several of the audience’s famous faces. When he made fun of Jada Pinkett Smith’s bald head, Will marched on stage, slapped the hell out of Rock and told the comic to “keep my wife’s name out your fucking mouth!” The whole world was stunned, as this was a side of the Fresh Prince that we’d never seen before.
The audience at the Dolby Theater quickly got over their shock, with the “King Richard” star winning Best Actor a few minutes later and receiving a standing ovation.
In the aftermath of the incident, many comedians spoke out against Will. It appears those hard feelings aren’t going away anytime soon. While appearing on a recent episode of “The Art of Dialogue,” Michael Blackson explained why he has no desire to see the new “Bad Boys” movie.
“I’m rocking with Chris Rock because I’m a comic. So I really haven’t got over the slap yet,” he said. “So it’s not really pushing me to go to the movie theater to go and see this, because as soon as I see his face I’m just thinking about [the] slap.”
He revealed that it would take Rock forgiving Will for him to be OK with the rapper/actor again. He also expressed disappointment in how the “Bel Air” producer became a “bully” that evening.
“Because of that, I looked at Smith as a bully,” he said. “Chris Rock is a comedian we’re allowed freedom of speech, we’re allowed to say whatever we want [when] telling a joke on somebody.”
You’re not actually allowed to say whatever you want just because it’s a joke, but we’ll save that discussion for another day. Obviously Blackson doesn’t speak for all comedians, but in the two years since the slap happened, we’ve heard some notable names come out in support of Rock.
Wanda Sykes—who co-hosted the 2022 Oscars alongside Regina Hall and Amy Schumer—has discussed how she was “traumatized” by the slap. She explained that if they weren’t at a Hollywood awards show, the “Men in Black” star would’ve probably been arrested. She was “happy” that Rock got to have his moment to address the issue in the Netflix special “Selective Outrage.”
In the lead up to Chris’ special, “Average Joe” star Deon Cole expressed his excitement to Entertainment Tonight. “Everyone has stood by Chris wholeheartedly, due to the situation, and we all can’t wait to find out what he has to say, which is gonna be amazing,” he said.
The legendary Arsenio Hall explained how comics back each other up like teammates.
“You know how athletes stick together against Skip Bayless? That’s how comics are,” he said. “No matter what goes down, we support each other. Because if I dog a comic, it’s a slippery slope for me... so I support freedom of speech, and anything a comic wants to do. I don’t know comics that are haters of other comics, so everybody was supporting Chris.”
Will Smith has apologized and expressed regret for his actions that night, but he can’t make people forgive him. However, the box office for “Bad Boys: Ride or Die” shows that movie fans have, and let’s be honest, that’s who he really cares about.