Tag: chris rock

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Chris Rock Jada Pinkett Smith

Jada Pinkett Smith: Chris Rock asked me out when he thought I was getting divorced

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As we discussed yesterday, Jada Pinkett Smith is doing a big rollout for her memoir, Worthy. Jada covers this week’s issue of People Mag, and she gave an exclusive interview to the Today Show, plus People has published some excerpts from the memoir. One of the subjects Jada finally gets to discuss in depth and on the record is this decades-long mess with Chris Rock. Rock has targeted Jada in his “comedy” since 1997, and at one point, years before the slap, Will Smith had words with Chris, asking him or telling him to back off. Following the 2022 Oscar slap, Rock did a big Netflix stand-up show where he repeatedly targeted Jada, acting as if SHE was the one who slapped him. He denigrated her, called her a “bitch” dozens of times and claimed that “she started it.” At the time, sources close to Jada went to People and noted that: “Jada has had no part in all of this other than being heckled. Chris is obsessed with her and that’s been going on for almost 30 years.” This whole time, Rock has been giving off “incel with a grudge” vibes, and guess what? Jada reveals that Rock tried to ask her out while she was married to Will!

She hasn’t spoken to Chris Rock since the 2022 Oscars: “[Do I have] any desire to talk to Chris? Here’s my desire: I just hope that all the misunderstanding around this can be cleared up and that there can be peace… I talk about this in the book, I think that there might be some misunderstanding between Chris and I as far as the 2016 Oscars. I think that he might’ve taken offense, which I meant no harm in offending. That wasn’t my intention. But I do think that there’s a big misunderstanding there.”

When she and Will boycotted the 2016 Oscars during the #OscarsSoWhite movement: Chris, who was hosting that year, made jokes about Jada in his monologue. And, in his Netflix comedy special earlier this year, Chris claimed that Jada told him he should quit the hosting gig out of solidarity. Jada admits to “not really recognizing the level of pressure [Chris] might’ve been under” at the time. “I probably should have called him and gone, ‘Hey, are you okay? And just know that although I’m speaking out about the Oscars, I do wish you the best and I just want you to know that,’ me taking the time to have called him and said that, just to touch base. But his feelings might’ve been hurt,” she says. But, Jada adds, “All we can ever do is just look at our part and see where could I have done something that would’ve seemed as if… Whatever misunderstanding might’ve been created, what could I have done to avoid that misunderstanding? The one thing that I think about is that call.”

Chris apologized after that, in 2016: Jada says Chris, 58, called her afterward in 2016 and she thought they’d moved on. “He apologized and I apologized to him as well,” she says. “So I actually thought that we were good, that the hatchet was buried between us. And we hadn’t talked since then, until 2022 came.”

Chris tried to talk to her after the slap: “Chris came down to the end of the stage and tried to apologize to me. He said, ‘I didn’t mean you any harm.’ I said, ‘I can’t talk about this now, Chris. This is some old s—.’ I thought this was [about] the Oscar 2016 and … their stuff that they had before I even came into the picture in the late ‘80s. I’ve got to leave that to Will and Chris to talk about, but they got their stuff for sure.”

On Chris’s joke about her baldness/alopecia: “I mean, that’s what comedians do,” says Jada. “I would just have to say that I am not really here to make any judgment on how people decide to express themselves and express their art. I’ll say that several times I’ve had my feelings hurt, for sure. I’ve had my feelings hurt a lot by Chris. But at the end of the day, too, being in the spotlight, it comes with the territory.”

Chris asked her out once: “I think every summer all the reports would come out that me and Will were getting a divorce. And this particular summer, Chris, he thought that we were getting a divorce. So he called me and basically he was like, ‘I’d love to take you out.’ And I was like, ‘What do you mean?’ He was like, ‘Well, aren’t you and Will getting a divorce?’ I was like, ‘No. Chris, those are just rumors.’ He was appalled. And he profusely apologized and that was that.”

[From People]

I would assume that there’s much more to the story of Chris’s obsession with Jada, but she probably doesn’t want to feed into his ego. Like, Chris, Jada and Will have all known each other since the late ‘80s or early ‘90s. Jada appeared on Chris’s defunct talk show back in the day. Reportedly, Rock wanted to be with Jada in the ‘90s. I’m just saying, I think there were probably more instances where Rock tried to shoot his shot and Jada turned him down or just didn’t realize what he was doing. All of his nastiness and horrible energy makes him seem like he feels jilted, or like he’s overcompensating for Jada brushing him off for years. Anyway, I’m not saying anyone deserves to be slapped, but there’s just so much backstory to that one moment.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Cover Images.

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Chris Rock Jada Pinkett Smith Will Smith

Chris Rock wants everyone to know: he has not been obsessed with Jada for 30 years

chris-rock-wants-everyone-to-know:-he-has-not-been-obsessed-with-jada-for-30-years

One year after “the slap” at the 2022 Oscars, Chris Rock addressed Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith in his Netflix special, which aired last Friday. It took him a year to figure out what to say and, in that year, he never once had a moment where he considered altering his worldview or perhaps made the decision to speak differently about Black women. In the aftermath of his special, the reaction has been pretty remarkable: overwhelming disgust at Rock’s blatant pandering to a white audience, disgust that Rock continues to attack Jada, a woman who has done nothing to him, and disgust with Rock’s contradictory, nonsensical attacks on Meghan Markle. One year after the slap, it feels like even more people are like “wow, I understand why Will Smith slapped him.”

Interestingly enough, around the one-year anniversary, Jada’s friends are talking too. Jada must have been unsettled by Rock’s continued and unprovoked attacks on her in his Netflix show, where he repeatedly referred to her as “bitch” and shared his delusions that Jada had somehow been criticizing him for years (she has not). Jada’s people said it flat-out: Rock has been obsessed with Jada in this bizarre way for almost 30 years. He even filmed the Netflix thing in Baltimore, Jada’s hometown. Well, Chris Rock read that People story and he ran straight to Page Six to cry about how he didn’t pick Jada’s hometown because of Jada. Some highlights:

Rock’s side says Will Smith still hasn’t “personally apologized”: Will Smith still has not personally apologized to Chris Rock nearly one year after the infamous 2022 Oscars slap, a source tells Page Six. “Will did call Chris last year after the Oscars, but Chris didn’t pick up. And they haven’t spoken since,” a source who knows both men tells Page Six exclusively. “Chris was open for a call until Will made his public apologies, and then all of those ‘Red Table Talk’ discussions,” the insider continues, referring to Jada Pinkett Smith’s Facebook Watch show, on which she once shared her hope that her husband and his onetime friend could “reconcile.”

Will’s multiple apologies: Smith, 54, has apologized for the incident twice via Instagram: in a written statement the day after the awards show in March 2022 and in an emotional video in July. “Will’s two public apologies were all about saving his own reputation,” the source claims to us. “Will has not apologized to Chris Rock in person — and Chris isn’t expecting it.”

Rock’s closure: In fact, Rock, 58, is ready to move on now that he has said his piece in his live special. “This was closure for Chris,” our source says. “He wanted to do that in a safe space.”

Why Rock filmed in Baltimore: The insider also denies a recent People magazine report that claimed Rock chose to film his special in Baltimore because Pinkett Smith, 51, grew up there. “[He] performed there five times last year, and he loves the audience,” the source explains. “The choice of venue wasn’t because Chris has been obsessed with Jada ‘for 30 years,’ as it had been claimed. It is because he feels comfortable in the venue and audience.”

[From Page Six]

He liked the vibe of… Baltimore? Don’t get me wrong, Baltimore is a vibrant American city. But… Rock could have gone to Philadelphia or New York or DC or Boston or Chicago or literally anywhere else and sold out. Baltimore does seem like a very specific choice and by that I mean, specific to Jada. As I said, it’s giving Incel. I still believe the stories about Jada rejecting Rock in the ‘90s. That’s his energy – a guy who has been rejected and spends years obsessing over the woman who rejected him.

As for Will not “personally” apologizing to Rock – Will has made it clear multiple times that he’s reached out to Rock and that he would like to apologize in person and clear the air. Rock has refused, because clearing the air might mean that Will would call him to account for his obsession with denigrating Will’s wife.

Photos courtesy of Kirill Bichutsky/Netflix, Avalon Red.

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Chris Rock Will Smith

Chris Rock ‘said what he needed to say & doesn’t give a sh-t about the reaction’

chris-rock-‘said-what-he-needed-to-say-&-doesn’t-give-a-sh-t-about-the-reaction’

In yesterday’s post, I was incorrect when I wrote that Chris Rock “did stand-up in front of a mostly white audience, and the positive response for the special has mostly come from the conservative, right-wing media.” The actual audience in the Baltimore theater – where Chris Rock filmed his Netflix special – was mostly Black. The audience for the Netflix special was mostly white. The positive reactions for the special mostly came from white people. It’s also worth noting that Jada Pinkett Smith is from Baltimore, and that Chris never said Jada’s name in his routine, but he did call Jada AND Will Smith a “bitch” several times. Rock also did a big segment on how the Duchess of Sussex was wrong to go on Oprah and claim that the Windsors are racist because…in Rock’s words, everyone knows that the Windsors have always been racist. A lot of people were wildly offended by Rock’s doubling-down on attacking Black women, but according to Rock’s people, he’s very pleased with the reaction:

Chris Rock is basking in the wake of his live comedy show. Two days after the comedian, 58, skewered Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith during Chris Rock: Selective Outrage, an industry source tells PEOPLE that he “is riding high from the Netflix special.”

“He said what he needed to say and doesn’t give a s— about the reaction either way. He isn’t worried,” the insider adds. A year after the infamous incident at the 94th Academy Awards where Will, 54, struck Rock in the face onstage after the latter made a joke about Jada, 51, Rock addressed the assault in his live special on Saturday night, asserting he “is not a victim.”

Many of Rock’s fans and friends have come to his defense amid some online backlash over the jokes. The source tells PEOPLE that “people have been waiting for [Rock’s] reaction for a year,” adding, “For the most part, I think it was well received. People don’t expect sugarcoating from Chris Rock.”

[From People]

Personally, after we watched Will Smith publicly eat sh-t for months and really use that time to reflect and figure out why he did what he did, I kind of hoped that Rock would do something similar in a smaller way – like, perhaps acknowledge that he gets off on attacking Black women. Perhaps reflect on the ways he needs to change to make funnier, more socially relevant comedy. It could have been the moment when Will Smith slapped some sense into him. Instead, Rock seems bitter, nasty and hellbent on degrading Black people even more. Meanwhile, Will Smith is still trying to make amends:

Will Smith is still intent on repairing his relationship with Chris Rock, a source tells PEOPLE. A year after the infamous incident at the 94th Academy Awards where Smith struck Rock onstage, Rock addressed the assault in his live Netflix comedy special Chris Rock: Selective Outrage on Saturday, asserting he “is not a victim.”

A source tells PEOPLE that Smith, 54, has “felt terrible for so long” about smacking Rock at the Oscars. “He’s tried unsuccessfully to make amends in the best way he could with Chris,” adds the source. “But beyond that, family is important to him and [Smith] leaned on them” in the aftermath of the incident, the source says. “It all has helped him look inside and mature. He is better but still remorseful.”

“Will listened to those who tried to help him and feels that he has become a better person,” the source continues.

[From People]

I hope he has matured but I also hope he simply moves on. At this point, he doesn’t owe Chris Rock anything. Will doesn’t owe the Academy anything either – they lied about him, overreacted and treated the slap like it was the worst thing that ever happened, like they didn’t give Roman Polanski a f–king Oscar.

Will Smith slaps you in front of 16 million people, and after a year of hyping up your comedy special, all you can come up with is calling him a bitch over and over…

Will Smith – 2

Chris Rock – 0 pic.twitter.com/JPkI5uWkgb

— chris rodgers. (@cxrodge) March 5, 2023

Photos courtesy of Kirill Bichutsky/Netflix, Avalon Red, Instar and YouTube.

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Chris Rock Jada Pinkett Smith

People: Chris Rock had been obsessed with Jada Pinkett Smith for ’30 years’

people:-chris-rock-had-been-obsessed-with-jada-pinkett-smith-for-’30-years’

While Jada Pinkett Smith isn’t everybody’s cup of tea, over the years, I’ve grown to admire her. She’s been on the right side of history many times, and so much of the angst and anger directed at her is because she married Mr. Popularity, Will Smith. On the Chris Rock issue, Jada is unequivocally the victim. She never did anything to Rock, and all he’s done is harass her and make her the butt of his jokes for decades. Rock has been obsessed with her for so long, and he felt empowered to stand on stage at the Oscars and make fun of her alopecia on a night where she was simply there to support her husband, who was nominated. Will Smith was the one who slapped Rock – all Jada did was stay in her seat and roll her eyes in disgust as Rock once again had her name in his mouth. Well, Jada’s friends are talking to People Mag in the wake of Rock’s horrid Netflix special, and I’m glad her side is saying all of this:

Jada Pinkett Smith is not involved in the ongoing tension between her husband Will Smith and comedian Chris Rock, a source close to the actress tells PEOPLE. A year after the infamous incident at the 94th Academy Awards where Smith struck Rock onstage, Rock addressed the assault in his live Netflix comedy special Chris Rock: Selective Outrage on Saturday, peppering it with scathing jokes about the Smiths and their marriage.

“Jada has had no part in all of this other than being heckled,” the source says. “Chris is obsessed with her and that’s been going on for almost 30 years. Look where he chose to film his Netflix special. Her hometown [of Baltimore]. Obsessed. Back in 2016 she helped start a movement with the Academy Awards by questioning why there are so few Black members, and Chris took it to this?” the source adds.

In 2016, Jada showed her support for Black actors as part of the “#OscarsSoWhite” movement. Will, 54, was shut out of the Best Actor race that year for his performance in Concussion. During his stand-up special, Rock quipped: “Years ago, his wife said I should quit the Oscars. I shouldn’t host ’cause her man didn’t get nominated for Concussion. And then he gives me a f–––ing concussion.”

The source counters: “She never asked Chris to not host the Oscars ever. She publicly said in a Facebook post at the time Chris would be a great Oscars host and is perfect for the job.”

In his special, Rock claimed that Jada deserved to be made fun of, saying that she was the one to start things and that he was simply reacting.

“I did some jokes about her. Who gives a f—? That’s how it is: She starts it, I finish it,” Rock said. “That’s what the f— happened. Nobody’s pickin’ on this bitch. She started this s—. Nobody was pickin’ on her.”

The source tells PEOPLE they “were shocked at how many times Chris used the word bitch in referring to Jada.”

Despite Rock’s targeting of Jada, she is looking ahead, the source adds.

“Right now Jada is focused on her book that will come out this year,” the source concluded.

[From People]

Yeah… I believe Jada’s side. She didn’t do anything to Chris Rock. I would argue that, from the way he’s obsessively sh-t talked her, she probably rejected him at one point, back in the 1990s. That’s the incel energy Rock has brought to Jada’s doorstep for decades – that of a man who got rejected and couldn’t handle it, so he had to smear the woman repeatedly. I believe Jada on the Oscar-hosting thing too – she wasn’t mad about Rock hosting the Oscars that year, her point was about Black actors and creators needing to be nominated. And she was right. Rock has created this whole delusion where Jada is constantly belittling him or starting sh-t with him, where all she’s ever done is exist and be married to Will and be an activist and an outspoken Black woman. (And yes, the Baltimore thing is f–king crazy.)

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Kirill Bichutsky/Netflix.

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Chris Rock

Chris Rock: What Meghan Markle went through in the UK ‘was not racism’

chris-rock:-what-meghan-markle-went-through-in-the-uk-‘was-not-racism’

Here are some photos from Chris Rock’s latest Netflix stand-up special. He did stand-up in front of a mostly white audience, and the positive response for the special has mostly come from the conservative, right-wing media. Rock is their guy, spouting their talking points, calling Black women “bitches” and suggesting that Black people aren’t really victims of racism if they knowingly fell in love with someone who comes from a racist family. Speaking of, Rock decided to dedicate part of his act to the Duchess of Sussex:

During his new Netflix special, Chris Rock: Selective Outrage, the comedian, 58, unloaded a few jokes about Meghan, 41, and her in-laws, at one point claiming that “some of that s— she went through was not racism,” but rather what he called “in-law s—.” He later called the royal family the “OGs of racism” and “Sugarhill Gang of racism” during the Saturday night special — claiming that they “invested in slavery like it was Shark Tank.”

“Sometimes it’s just some in-law s—,” Rock said on the special of Meghan. “Because she’s complaining, I’m like, ‘What the f— is she talking about? ‘They’re so racist, they wanted to know how brown the baby was going to be…’ I’m like, ‘That’s not racist,’ cause’ even Black people want to know how brown the baby gon’ be. S—. We check behind them ears.”

The segment about Meghan and the royals began when Rock claimed that “everyone is trying to be the victim, including people who know g–damn well they’re not victims.” After mentioning Meghan specifically, he said that she “seems like a nice lady, just complaining.”

“Like, didn’t she hit the light-skinned lottery,” Rock asked. “And she’s still going off complaining?” Rock continued, saying he understood Meghan’s “dilemma.”

“Black girl trying to be accepted by her white in-laws,” Rock said. “Oh, it’s hard. It’s so hard, it’s very hard — but it ain’t as hard as a white girl trying to be accepted by her Black in-laws. Now, that s— is really hard. If you Black, and you wanna be accepted by your white in-laws, then you need to marry a Kardashian. Because they accept everybody. Kris Jenner is like the Statue of Liberty.”

[From People]

What’s weird is that the people who are like “yes, finally someone tells the truth about Meghan” are in complete denial of the part where Rock mocked Meghan for NOT knowing that the Windsors “invented colonialism” and that she was trying to enter an environment which would be hostile to her just because of her race. Like, he made that about how Meghan was… a bad person for falling for a white man with a racist family, but the racist idiots defending Rock are just glossing over the fact that Rock said the Windsors invented colonialism and have been racist for centuries?

Of course, Meghan wasn’t the only target of his unfunny ire. Rock also said he watched Emancipation just to see Will Smith “get whipped” (Smith plays a slave-turned-soldier in the film). He went off on a tangent (?) about how Jada is a “bitch” because she tried to boycott the Oscars for being racist, and he brought up Jada’s entanglement, etc. Basically, as the AV Club says, Rock seemed more upset with Jada than with Will. Basically, Rock’s special was all about how much he despises Black women.

Chris Rock unloads on Meghan Markle and the Royal Family at his live Netflix show:

• Meghan Markle playing the victim

• Royal family are the original racists

• The colour of her and Harry’s baby#ChrisRockLive pic.twitter.com/7rBqzpIZY7

— Jamie Johnson (@JamieoJohnson) March 5, 2023

Photos courtesy of Kirill Bichutsky/Netflix.

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Chris Rock

Chris Rock compared himself to murder victim Nicole Brown Simpson

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In March, Chris Rock got on stage at the Oscars, went off script and cracked a “GI Jane joke” about Jada Pinkett Smith, a woman who has been open about her alopecia. Jada’s husband Will Smith, who was a sure thing to win the Best Actor Oscar that night, walked on stage and slapped Rock. Will went back to his seat and then yelled up at Rock, “Keep my wife’s name out of your f–king mouth.” In the days, weeks and months to follow, Will has repeatedly apologized to Rock and the Academy, he’s been banned from the Oscars and he lost his Academy membership. White folks rallied to Rock’s defense and made the slap sound like the most traumatizing event they’d ever witnessed in their lives. It was asinine, frankly. Unfortunately, this entire mess has convinced Chris Rock that he has a pass to compare himself to Nicole Brown Simpson, the victim of domestic violence who was murdered by OJ Simpson.

Five months after Will Smith slapped him onstage at the Academy Awards, stunning millions watching around the world, Chris Rock delivered another sort of slap back at the Oscars.

Riffing with the crowd at a stand-up show in Phoenix Sunday night, the comedian said that he was asked to host next year’s Oscars, according to the Arizona Republic. But he turned the offer down, joking that returning to Hollywood’s biggest night would be like returning to a crime scene.

Referencing the murder trial of O.J. Simpson, Rock told the crowd at Arizona Financial Theatre that going back to the awards ceremony would be like asking Nicole Brown Simpson “to go back to the restaurant” where she left her eyeglasses before being killed.

Rock also said he turned down a post-slap Super Bowl commercial offer.

[From The LA Times]

First of all, Chris Rock needs some updated cultural references. This whole mess started with a GI Jane joke and ends with a riff comparing himself to Nicole Brown Simpson. Yes, the 1990s were amazing, but dude, a lot of stuff has happened since then. As for the comparison… Nicole Brown Simpson was murdered. Chris Rock was slapped. He’s making light of domestic violence and comparing (in a way) Will Smith to OJ Simpson, and this is after comparing Will to Suge Knight (who has also allegedly killed people). What a complete mess.

Photos courtesy of Backgrid.

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Chris Rock ‘doesn’t need to talk’ to Will Smith, ‘Will needs to deal with his issues’

chris-rock-‘doesn’t-need-to-talk’-to-will-smith,-‘will-needs-to-deal-with-his-issues’

Since the Oscars, Chris Rock has been performing at stand-up gigs across the country. He’s been workshopping several jokes about getting slapped by Will Smith, including a “joke” in which Chris refers to Will as “Suge,” as in Suge Knight, the gangster/former Death Row CEO notorious for beating the crap out of anyone and everyone (and pulling guns on people too). Before Will Smith’s YouTube apology last Friday, that was the headline – that Rock was calling Smith “Suge” in his act. Following Will’s YouTube apology, this piece appeared in People:

A source tells PEOPLE that Rock, 57, had “moved on” from the incident before Smith, 53, issued his first on-camera apology on Friday since the awards ceremony in March.

“Chris doesn’t need to talk. This is clearly something that bothers Will more than Chris,” the insider says of the pair. “Will needs to deal with his issues. Chris is fine.”

Another industry source adds that it is a positive sign that the comedian is already making light of the incident in his stand-up.

“The fact that he is making jokes about it already is a good thing,” the source says. “That means he is assessing it. But the stress of the slap and the aftermath has not taken over his life. Quite the opposite.”

[From People]

….??? I mean…? It’s Chris Rock’s right to make fun of the slap or process sh-t on stage, of course. Just as I would argue that it’s Will Smith’s right to process his sh-t however he wants too, which apparently includes public apologies. The whole “Chris doesn’t need to talk” reeks of insecurity from Rock though. I’ve wondered this whole time if Rock has had any moments where he regrets making Will and Jada the butt of his jokes, or if he specifically regrets making a “joke” at the expense of a woman with alopecia on the night her husband was about to win an Oscar. I’m just saying, there could be many reasons why Rock doesn’t want to meet face to face with Will. As for Will, People Mag also had a long-winded story about why he made that YouTube video:

Will Smith posted his recent apology video to Chris Rock in an effort to move forward from their Oscars incident — and he’s still working on himself. A source tells PEOPLE of Smith, “From a person who has never displayed anything like [the slap], he’s very aware that isn’t someone he will ever be again,” adding, “He’s deeply remorseful, he is still doing a lot of work and he’s also human and made a mistake. He’s going to move forward with the same positivity that he always had.”

“If you spend your life beating yourself up over one thing then it’s really hard to move forward as the positive, joyful person that you know you are,” says the insider. “But he’s also in a very human place, recognizing that mistake and really looking at it and not brushing over it. He really needed to do the work, and that was very important to him.”

Addressing Smith’s decision to post the video, the source says: “There was no rhyme or reason to it other than time had passed, work had been done, the same questions had been bubbling up and also people were really wanting to hear from him in other ways, not even about this. There was just a general feeling that it’s time and he’s at a place where he had more things he wanted to say,” the insider adds. “He has always had that direct connection to people on social media and he felt it was appropriate now to show up and answer some questions. And he read them and answered them honestly. He’s worked with a therapist, people saw him in India at an ashram, but a lot of it has just been quietly at home,” says the source.

[From People]

It sort of sounds like Will is trying to work some kind of 12-step program, only it’s not for drugs or alcohol. A 12-step program for losing his temper and slapping someone on live television. Anyway, I hope both Smith and Rock know that they don’t actually have to hash everything out in person. Bring back simmering grudges! Bring back “hating someone and never wanting to be in the same room with them.”

Embed from Getty Images

Photos courtesy of Getty, Avalon Red.