Reporter says Chris Rock deserved to be slapped by Will Smith

Rock’s Netflix special ‘Selective Outrage’ has ignited impassioned debates on Twitter
Actor Will Smith attends the Warner Bros. Pictures' Focus premiere at TCL Chinese Theatre on February 24, 2015, in Hollywood, California. Smith could soon be added to a highly anticipated movie, according to a new, unconfirmed report. JASON MERRITT/BENZINGA
Actor Will Smith attends the Warner Bros. Pictures’ Focus premiere at TCL Chinese Theatre on February 24, 2015, in Hollywood, California. Smith could soon be added to a highly anticipated movie, according to a new, unconfirmed report. JASON MERRITT/BENZINGA

A journalist for a notable Black publication suggested comedian Chris Rock deserved to have the side of his head caved in by Will Smith at the 2022 Oscars for his ceaseless denigration and attacks on Black women.


The Roots writer Candace McDuffie told CNN’s Don Lemon that Rock suffered the retribution as a form of accountability for a pattern of belittling and further marginalizing this undervalued demographic years before he blistered Jada Pinkett Smith. 


Many urbanites on Twitter concurred with Duffie’s sentiments that this was the proverbial “chickens coming home to roost” for the famously caustic comedian.

Rock, 58, made fun of Pinkett Smith’s bald head at the Academy Awards by suggesting she was ready to star in the sequel to G.I. Jane in which Demi Moore shaved her head for the role. When Pinkett Smith, 51, rolled her eyes at the scathing joke, her husband dutifully marched onstage and lowered the hammer on Rock with an open hand.


Urbanites looked askance when Rock later claimed he was unaware that Pinkett Smith suffered from the auto-immune disease alopecia that causes hair loss – although she had addressed it multiple times on Instagram and via her Facebook Watch show “Red Table Talk.”

The comedian was subjected to abject international humiliation after suffering the wrath of Smith’s hand. Meanwhile, the Oscar-winning Smith, once a Tinseltown darling thanks to a string of blockbuster films including; Men in Black, Independence Day, I Am Legend, Pursuit of Happyness, Bad Boys, Hitch and I, Robot, was subsequently cast into industry exile for the next decade for his transgression.

Lemon cautioned the writer McDuffie that her words may be interpreted by the mainstream (read: White people) as condoning violence as a means to reconcile grievances. McDuffie countered that she was referring to “accountability” since Rock has made “Black women the butt of his jokes for years, and he’s finally being held accountable.” The writer continued on, saying she hopes this sets a “precedence going forward that people will be more careful about how they treat and discuss Black women.”

McDuffie has many Black folks who agree with her stance, while others resolutely support Rock and his scorched-earth Netflix special, “Selective Outrage,” where he flames Will and Jada Pinkett Smith with a vengeance.

Some Twitter users point out Rock’s proclivity to use Black pathology and dysfunction as fodder for his jokes in front of White people, while others applauded Rock for verbally smacking back at the Smiths.

Reporter says Chris Rock deserved to be slapped by Will Smith

Reporter says Chris Rock deserved to be slapped by Will Smith

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