After Will Smith slapped Chris Rock at the 2022 Oscars, there were many comedians rushing around, defending Rock. They argued that they should be able to tell any joke they wanted to without being slapped. They argued that Chris Rock is a really good guy, despite his history of insulting and denigrating Black women. While I know many comedians have personal relationships and even deep friendships with Rock, I also think there are still layers to what went down on that night and afterwards. Rock has every right to process the slap however he wants, and Will Smith has the right to tell Rock that he should take Jada’s name out of his f–king mouth permanently. Well, Leslie Jones has some comments about the slap…19 months later.
Leslie Jones told People magazine while promoting her new memoir, “Leslie F*cking Jones,” that her longtime friend Chris Rock went to counseling after Will Smith slapped him at the 2022 Academy Awards. Rock wrote the foreword to Jones’ new book.
“That s–t was humiliating. It really affected him,” Jones said. “People need to understand his daughters, his parents, saw that. He had to go to counseling with his daughters.”
Variety has reached out to Rock’s representative for comment.
Jones added that the Oscars slap “infuriated” her, adding, “You don’t know that I was going to jump in my car and roll up there. I was so f–king mad on so many levels… Chris Rock did a f–king joke. I know Will, too… I was like, you couldn’t handle that sh-t afterwards? This is the Oscars. The whole world is watching.”
“That s–t was humiliating” – in the same sense that Rock was trying to publicly humiliate a woman with alopecia? In the same sense that Rock always has something derogatory to say about Black women, up to and including his ex-wife and his daughters? I mean, I’m not going to relitigate this sh-t for the millionth time and I’m not even sure Chris Rock even wants this information out here. I think Leslie is trying to promote her book and that’s why she’s talking about the slap. But for the love of God, “he had to go to counseling with his daughters” – the same daughters he regularly mocked in his stand-up?
Photos courtesy of Getty, Avalon Red.
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- Tyler Perry, and Oscar® nominees Will Smith and Denzel Washington during the 94th Oscars® at the Dolby Theatre at Ovation Hollywood in Los Angeles, CA, on Sunday, March 27, 2022.,Image: 673515395, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: Avalon Licensing Ltd. do not claim any Copyright of the attached image WORLD RIGHTS- Fee Payable Upon reproduction – For queries contact Avalon sales@Avalon.red London +44 20 7421 6000 Los Angeles +1 310 822 0419 Berlin +49 30 76 212 251 Madrid +34 91 533, Model Release: no, Credit line: Avalon.red / Avalon
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- Oscar® nominee Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith during the 94th Oscars® at the Dolby Theatre at Ovation Hollywood in Los Angeles, CA, on Sunday, March 27, 2022.,Image: 673515422, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: Avalon Licensing Ltd. do not claim any Copyright of the attached image WORLD RIGHTS- Fee Payable Upon reproduction – For queries contact Avalon sales@Avalon.red London +44 20 7421 6000 Los Angeles +1 310 822 0419 Berlin +49 30 76 212 251 Madrid +34 91 533, Model Release: no, Credit line: Avalon.red / Avalon
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- Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith during the live ABC telecast of the 94th Oscars® at the Dolby Theatre at Ovation Hollywood in Los Angeles, CA, on Sunday, March 27, 2022.,Image: 673515557, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: Avalon Licensing Ltd. do not claim any Copyright of the attached image WORLD RIGHTS- Fee Payable Upon reproduction – For queries contact Avalon sales@Avalon.red London +44 20 7421 6000 Los Angeles +1 310 822 0419 Berlin +49 30 76 212 251 Madrid +34 91 533, Model Release: no, Credit line: Avalon.red / Avalon
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- Chris Rock backstage at the live ABC telecast of the 94th Oscars® at the Dolby Theatre at Ovation Hollywood in Los Angeles, CA, on Sunday, March 27, 2022.,Image: 673582761, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: Avalon Licensing Ltd. do not claim any Copyright of the attached image WORLD RIGHTS- Fee Payable Upon reproduction – For queries contact Avalon sales@Avalon.red London +44 20 7421 6000 Los Angeles +1 310 822 0419 Berlin +49 30 76 212 251 Madrid +34 91 533, Model Release: no, Credit line: Avalon.red / Avalon
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- LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA – MAY 10: Leslie Jones attends the Los Angeles premiere of Netflix’s “The Mother” at Westwood Regency Village Theater on May 10, 2023 in Los Angeles, California.,Image: 775118853, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: , Model Release: no, Pictured: Leslie Jones, Credit line: Jeffrey Mayer / Avalon
I was just thinking that it’s still so bizarre to me how little credit Will Smith had.
I’m surprised considering she was traumatized by a man bullying her.
some women will never fail to defend the worst behaviour in men, so long as they’re not personally, directly impacted.. the same sort of men who wouldn’t bother sticking up for them if *they* were the ones in trouble..
i don’t have any knowledge of rock defending leslie when she was the target of serious misogynoir many years back, does anyone?
became an even bigger fan of will smith after the slap, btw.. can’t stand chris, someone did have to slap him eventually lmao.
Chris Rock been dissing black women for years and feels its okay for white comics to call us the N word. He needs more than a smack
I was traumatized by that slap, and so were many children who watched the Oscars that night. Kids in school needed to talk about it the next day, they were having trouble processing it. That slap was NOT justified, it was AWFUL, regardless of who it was directed at and why.
AGREED!! and I love both but Chris Rock has my vote. It was awful and how would he have know about Jada`s alopecia. I follow Jada on Instagram and I didnt even know and I HAVE ALOPECIA. OMG it was a F**KING JOKE and She looks Beautiful with hair or no hair. Will Smith was laughing at the joke at first.. that`s the ironic part
I am not justifying the slap. That was just stupid. But NO kids did not become traumatized by it. They see worse than that all the time in TV and movies. Even cartoons. And probably everyday in a lot of schools. So don’t go there.
I don’t like Chris Rock and never have (I’ve actually been to a party at his house in NJ and met his ex-wife, not that it matters to the story).
I also think Will was an idiot with his own career by hitting Rock on camera. Like, had he done it privately off stage I’d be like yeah, violence isn’t great but Rock had it coming. But to do it on camera on stage at that moment — forget Rock, it was just an unwise decision for Smith’s reputation and career. No matter what it wasn’t going to play out well for him personally or professionally.
If I was there and had a chance to stop him I would have and been like dude, let’s come up with a proper media strategy to burn Chris Rock to the ground. We can expose his long running abuse of Jada, we can talk about the cruelty of his jokes. Let’s get people on your side about this. But he chose to lash out and hit Rock and I just think it was a miscalculation, not to mention a potentially criminal offence.
So in the end, at that particular moment in time I think both men sucked with the choices they made. But definitely f&*@ Chris Rock because he is unfunny and cruel.
I agree, and I don’t understand why it’s controversial to say that neither man came out of this looking good. Chris Rock is a prick and a misogynist but Will Smith literally walked onstage and chose violence on national television. There were a thousand different ways he could have handled that situation without getting out of his seat, walking onstage, and physically striking a man in the face during an Oscars broadcast. The leaps people will take to justify physical violence in this case are kind of mind-boggling. I’m a lawyer here in Texas, and per the penal code, assault is never justified based on words alone.
Agree with you there. And not a fan of mean/cruel jokes. I dont understand how people think being such is funny. Also can do without the swearing, not funny.
This was my take, too; both men were in the wrong. I wish Will had handled it differently, but Chris should have known better than to make fun of Jada’s alopecia.
I agree as well. Smith’s anger was absolutely justified, but he did not handle the situation well at all. I understand passions get the better of people. Still, he’s an adult who has been in the public eye for decades. He could and should have shown more self control and found a more effective way to handle Rock: one that didn’t involve hitting him on live TV.
Was I personally triggered by watching it? No, I was just really surprised. But I did feel badly for the other winners who had their moments overshadowed by the whole incident. Rock bears his share of the blame for it as well, of course. But yeah, choosing violence was just the wrong move.
He wrote the foreword to her book in case anyone is interested 🙄 this same POS who wouldn’t spit on you if you were on fire.
I read the article you linked saying he mocked his daughters in his standup. That wasn’t my take on it at all.
That wasn’t my impression either. It was an anecdote about his girls and it wasn’t too personal, at least not by comedic standards.
Me three, I kind of agree with his take on the older daughter needing to learn that actions have consequences. My white a$$ (married to an attorney no less!) would not hire a lawyer to keep my kid in school if either of them got caught seriously breaking the rules on a school-sponsored trip.
The Girl Scout cookie bit was just silly/corny but cute, and the rest of the story was about both parents praising and admiring both kids.
Chris Rock demonstrated excellent parenting skills on that matter: these teenagers – Black and White alike – happily ganged up in a classist contempt for the rules. Such transgressions must be properly addressed before these kids grow into odious helicopter-parachuted darling princesses.
As for Will Smith’s gesture? I believe it was uncautious. Although he had every right to scream his mind from across the room, slapping someone across the face may have unpredictable and unwanted consequences. We never know how the body can react, so what if Chris Rock had gone into cardiac arrest or if the bones in his neck had cracked badly and caused internal bleeding, resulting in death? If next time the comedian with a lousy joke happens to be a woman, should we condone the offended party to punch her or something?
I categorically disapprove of physical violence as a response to personal offense. All those praising Smith wouldn’t know what to say if he had severely injured the man or done the same to a female comedian.
When Zay Maluck shoved his unsefferable stepmother for blocking access to his child, I didn’t see anyone applauding the gesture. Same here. Even if Rock is a male, treatment should be the same. Never get physical. Point blank.
I would love to be commenting on Leslie Jones and her book.
Like I’ve shared before, Will made a mistake by slapping Chris but I unstand that it was from a place of love and protection for his wife. Chris Rock has used black women over and over to for laughs by disparaging them and made money from it. He has also been accused of sexual assault by more than one woman. He is not a good person.
I actually unfollowed Leslie on twitter after hearing this take from her. She has been bullied and disrespected by other black people and by white men. She knows how shitty people can be and for her to dredge this up again is disheartening to me. I do hope that her book does well though.
Sitting here wondering if the woman he coordinated dragging through the mud and managed to obtain her police retort and medical records on during an active sexual assault investigation in order to begin his smear campaign with, needed therapy. F Chris Rock
I always have liked Leslie, but she really needs to find a different way to draw attention to herself. This isn’t making me want to read her book
Eff Chris and Eff Leslie too. She needs to find some self-worth.
The slap and the fact that she and he are friends aside (I think Rock is an asshole in general, and Will was an out of control asshole for the televised slap), did she have permission to speak publicly about that??? How do the daughters feel about this being made MORE public??
JFC.
I don’t know anything about these people’s private lives or how they relate with their families – but I believe that people shouldn’t be insulted or assaulted. I think both sides were wrong and that they should handle the situation however they feel necessary – if it’s therapy, that’s fine.
I think when you go to a comic show you expect jokes and sometimes the jokes are ad libs about audience members. As an audience member, you’re expected to take it in stride because that’s the event – comedy. However if you are asked to present an award at an Award Show, you go out and present an award, not make a potential embarrassing or insulting joke about someone and expect them to not feel insulted or embarrassed and possibly react negatively.
Chris was not invited to be a comedian for the show on that stage. He wasn’t even the emcee for the evening. Emcees usually warm up the audience with jokes which can be off color at times but that’s understood or expected. Respect the moment.
Growing up I was told every action has a reaction. Actions have consequences, be prepared to deal with them. Chris unfortunately was not prepared to deal with the consequences of his actions. He was expecting to get away with being a bully towards Jada imo. Will reacted and is also dealing with the consequences of his actions. Jada seemed embarrassed, not sure if she actually was but would be justified if she did after being the but of his joke on global television.
Chris who inappropriately told an embarrassing joke went on to make a lot of money from his Netflix show and got back at Will for slapping him.
From where I’m assessing it, Chris benefited well from the incident that he initiated which seemed to have embarrassed/hurt Will and his wife and resulted in some reputation damage for Will in the movie industry, maybe even some financial loss.
In my opinion, comedians need to respect the occasion/event when going off on people with their personal jokes.
I disagree with her, but understand that Rock was the one who let the right people know about Leslie that resulted in her big break…
She is being a loyal friend, but I totally disagree with her premise..
Rock could have spared himself the so-called humiliation, by being sensitive to Jada….
Jada was the intended butt of his joke, and was blamed by some because her husband chose to defend her..
I hope this will all go away sooner rather later, the lack of maturity, transference as a result from a not-so-funny comedian is astounding..
I find this whole situation dead and tired. Will was wrong, Chris (assuming he was aware of Jada’s condition, and I think he was, and that the joke would be embarrassing for her – and I think he did) was also wrong.
That being said, Leslie has a right to say what she thinks, although I’m not sure if Rock would appreciate this info being out there – hopefully she cleared it with him first or something.
Everybody has a right to their thoughts about it. The Academy went way overboard imo, but it’s done and over.
As artists, I like all three of them. I did find it jarring to watch, but whatever. I wish everyone could stop rehashing it. Nobody needs to be reminded of mistakes they made in a moment almost two years ago. But I love Leslie. Now, Sean Penn, htf he made the link from Zelenskyy to Will Smith I will never understand. He’s just a straight tool.
OK, I guess if she says he had to go to counseling, I believe it. Is that something he wants made public? What about his kids? Also, it seems to me there are some other things he could be working out in counseling besides being slapped by Will Smith. To me this kind of begs the question as to whether he’s had therapy before and if not, why not?
I think it’s interesting LesDogg said “you couldn’t handle that s$&! afterwards?” Makes me think deep down she felt Chris deserved to get checked for what he said.
Will was banned from the Oscars for a decade. Got his TikTok joke about it to go viral. And Chris unloaded on him and Jada on his Netflix comedy special.
Can we forgive them and move on?
Did Chris go to counseling with all three daughters, including the one his wife adopted as a baby and he raised and then abandoned after the divorce? Because from what I’ve heard, he dumped that child and refuses to see her because his name wasn’t on the adoption papers. He’s obviously not paying a dime for her upkeep either. That is some real psycho shit, if you ask me. By the way, I love Leslie, but I think she is wrong about Chris Rock.