The entertainer explained why he made fun of the Academy Oscars smack that was audible all across the world.
In a brand-new comedy special for HBO Max, Marlon Wayans talks about Will Smith slapping Chris Rock at the Oscars last year. Wayans claims in a recent interview that he didn’t get in touch with Smith or Rock about including the joke in his act and that he doesn’t worry about them finding out about his jokes.
When asked why he didn’t contact Rock or Smith, Wayans responded, “No, because in their art, they don’t ask me, ‘What do you think of this?’ I think as artists, we all do what we do. Especially because it’s such a sensitive subject, I didn’t want their opinions. I just hope they gauge and trust that I love them. That I’m being objective. I’m being honest. I’m being real. And that the purpose of this is more healing than it is deconstruction.”
He also said, “Chris cracked the wrong joke at the wrong moment, or the right joke at the wrong moment. And Will had the wrong response on the best day. They mirrored each other in a way, and the experience brought everybody together. It happened, and the discovery for me was hurt watching that because I know them all. This came from a genuine place, and I’m not afraid of them seeing it. I think all of them know my heart. I’ve always been a really good dude. I come from a good place, and there’s no harm ever meant. I just hope that at some point they can laugh at themselves.”
Chris Rock addressed the slap during his stand-up comedy special, Selective Outrage, at the Hippodrome Theatre in Baltimore on Saturday night for the first time on stage (March 4). It was the first comedy event ever to be live-streamed on Netflix.
“People are like, ‘Did it hurt?’ It still hurts! I got ‘Summertime’ ringing in my ears!” the comedian said at the event. “But I’m not a victim, baby. You will never see me on Oprah, Gayle, crying.” He said that, given the jokes that have been made over the years about Smith and his wife, Jada Pinkett Smith, it was “some b**ch ass s**t” to slap Smith because Smith was so much bigger than him.
HBO Max is presently streaming Marlon Wayans: God Loves Me for streaming.