Chris Rock's 'Botched' Will Smith Joke During Live Comedy Special Gets Fixed By Netflix

Chris Rock made a blunder while joking about Will Smith during his comedy special, an error which Netflix has now taken out. 

Viewers expressed their opinion about the mistake, with some joking about how Rock had a year to prepare and yet couldn't land his joke.

On the other hand, Will is reportedly hurt by the content of the special and wants Rock to 'let it go."

Keep on reading to learn more.

In his recent Netflix special "Selective Outrage," which aired live on March 4, comedian Chris Rock addressed the infamous slap he received from Will Smith at the 2022 Academy Awards. However, one of his jokes criticizing Will and his wife, Jada Pinkett-Smith, has reportedly been removed from the show.

During the live broadcast, Rock spoke about the humiliating incident and claimed that Jada was responsible for suggesting that he quit the Oscars because Will was not nominated for his film "Concussion." He said, "Years ago, his wife said I should quit the Oscars. I shouldn't host 'cause her man didn't get nominated for Emancipation." The comedian then followed up by saying Will gave him a "f***king concussion" with the slap.

However, Rock mixed up the movie title, confusing it for another of Will's films, "Emancipation." He apologized to the audience, admitted his mistake, and quickly corrected himself. "No, not Emancipation; I f**ked up the joke. 'Concussion.'"

In the edited version of the show, which reached Netflix's Top 10 in just a day, Rock's apology for the blunder has been replaced with his using the correct movie title in the final cut of the special. The show was initially broadcast live on Netflix, marking the first time a streaming service had done so.

Despite the streaming services' smooth edit, viewers were quick to point out that in the current version of the special, Rock delivers the correct film title in his joke, and his apology for the mistake has been removed.

Fans took to Twitter to air their opinions, and per Daily Mail, one user expressed sympathy for Rock, tweeting, "Feel so bad for Chris Rock. He waited a year to get revenge against his bully and wrote an AMAZING final 10 minutes to his live special… then fumbled the final joke delivery on Concussion/Emancipation. Still spectacular, of course, but could've been out of this world."

Another Twitter user commented on the comic's mishap, stating he had a year to practice the Will Smith concussion joke but still choked on stage. A fan tweeted, "Chris Rock botched that Concussion/Emancipation joke."

According to a source who spoke to Entertainment Tonight, Will feels embarrassed and hurt by Rock's decision to base his new Netflix special on their infamous clash at the Oscars last year.

Despite not having watched the show himself, Will has been informed of the content of the special by others and has even seen comments about it online.

The clash in question made headlines at the 2022 Oscars when Smith marched on stage and slapped Rock over a joke the comedian made about Jada's alopecia. In the weeks following his violent outburst, Will was forced to resign from the Academy and was banned for ten years.

Although Will has apologized to Rock, he is said to be deeply affected by the Netflix special and feels it was in poor taste for the streaming service to air it. However, Will now hopes Rock will move on from the incident and "let it go."

According to a source close to Rock, who spoke to Daily Mail, the comedian could have avoided discussing the scandal if he had received a personal apology from Will. The insider claimed that Will only issued a public apology, which was perceived as insincere, and had not apologized to Rock directly.

The source noted that Will has only addressed the slapping incident twice. Once on his Instagram page the day after the Oscars and the other in a video apology. However, the source insisted that Rock's decision to revisit the incident in his Netflix special was not an act of revenge but rather a way for the comic to "get it all out" and finally move on.

"Chris wanted to get this out once and for all and be done with it. This was very cathartic to him," the source concluded.