2022 Oscars: Will Smith appears to hit Chris Rock

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A year after Will Smith slapped him on the stage of the Academy Awards ceremony, Chris Rock ended what has been mostly silence to unload on the actor, characterizing him as a coward who may have lashed out because of his own marriage problems.

On Saturday night, a week before the 2023 Academy Awards presentation, Rock, 58, performed in his first stand-up special since last year’s Oscars.

“Anybody who says that words hurt has never been punched in the face,” Rock said at the opening live Netflix special, “Chris Rock: Selective Outrage."

“It still hurts," Rock said of the slap. "I got 'Summertime' ringing in my ears. But I'm not a victim, baby. You'll never see me on Oprah or Gayle [King] crying. It's never gonna happen."

During the special on Saturday, Rock said Smith may have been angry over his marital issues and took the occasion to express frustration.

Will Smith practices selective outrage," he said. "Everybody knows I had nothing to do with that. I didn't have any entanglements."

Pinkett Smith has said she had an "entanglement" with another man while the Smiths were separated.

Rock went on to say “everyone in the world” called Smith an expletive over his relationship issues, but Smith took it out on Rock — a physically smaller man.

"She hurt him way more than he hurt me," the comedian said.

The comedian also said Pinkett Smith had urged him to drop out of hosting the ceremony one year because Smith had not been nominated for his role in "Emancipation," Rock said, before correcting his joke to name another movie, "Concussion." “That’s how it is. She starts it, I finish it,” he said.

Rock went on to talk about how much he's "rooted for Will Smith my whole life."

"And now," he continued, "I watch 'Emancipation' just to see him get whooped."