The 5 most outrageous jokes from Chris Rock's new stand up special

After the shocking events of the 2022 Oscars in which the host Chris Rock was slapped by Will Smith on live TV, the comedian’s stock has arguably never been higher.

Now, the 58-year-old has released his live comedy special Selective Outrage on Netflix, marking the first time he has really spoken out about the incident.

In the special, Rock gave the slap the comedic attention viewers had hoped for, making more jokes to add to the whole host of hilarious memes it generated at the time. Aside from that, everything from age gaps in relationships, Meghan Markle, pronouns and Pinkett-Smithh (again) all found themselves at the butt of his jokes.

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Here are some of the most outrageous:

The slap

Referencing the infamous moment, Rock said: “You know what people say, they say, 'words hurt.” He then added: “Anybody that say words hurt has never been punched in the face.”

He also gave another nod to it early on, joking: “I'm going to try to do the show without offending anyone. Because you never know who might get triggered.”

But it was at the end of the show that he really took his opportunity to discuss the incident, with a direct reference to one of Will Smith’s singles.

Rock said: “I got smacked at the f***ing Oscars by this motherf***** and people are like, 'Did it hurt?' It still hurts! I got 'Summertime' ringing in my ears.”

He added: “I took that hit like [Manny] Pacquiao, motherf*****.”

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Jada Pinkett-Smith

Despite it being the reason he was slapped in the first place when Smith told him to, “keep my wife’s name out your f***ing mouth!”, Rock decided to speak about the famous couple’s relationship in his special.

The A-list couple have been open about their relationship issues in the past, with elements of cheating and open relationships coming up on Jada's Facebook show, Red Table Talk.

Rock said: “We've all been cheated on, everybody in here been cheated on, none of us have ever been interviewed by the person that cheated on us on television. She hurt him way more than he hurt me.”

The comic also claimed that Smith engages in “selective outrage”, referencing back to the name of his live special, and claimed that Smith’s slap was more to do with the couple’s insecure relationship.

Meghan Markle

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Another woman bearing the brunt of Rock’s jokes was Meghan Markle, who has inadvertently become a dividing figure online after allegations of mistreatment in the royal family.

At one stage during his set, Rock referenced Markle and Prince Harry’s televised interview with Oprah Winfrey, in which they suggested there was concerns about their future son Archie’s skin colour might be.

Rock brushed off Markle’s experience as just dealing with “in-law s**t”.

He continued: “Everybody trying to be a victim. Like, who is this girl Meghan Markle?” He added: “Seems like a nice lady – just complaining. Like didn’t she hit the light-skinned lottery?”

Mocking Markle, Rock said: “‘Oprah, they’re so racist they wanted to know how brown the baby was going to be’ – I’m like, ‘That’s not racist, because even Black people want to know how brown the baby going to be.’”

Age-gaps

In one controversial moment, the 58-year-old referenced his in-shape body and said he does it because he wants to sleep with women much younger than him, such as 27-year-old artist Doja Cat.

He said: “I didn’t get rich and stay in shape to talk about Anita Baker,” adding: “I’m trying to f*** Doja Cat.”

Pronouns and the transgender community

Appearing to take a leaf out of the book of Dave Chappelle and Ricky Gervais, Rock was the latest comedian in line to take on the transgender community and pronouns as part of his set.

In one cheap shot, he said: “I’m rich but I identify as poor. My pronoun is broke.”

Rock continued to riff about the subject and joked about how his family would react if one of them were to transition, which stepped close to uncomfortable territory regarding gender stereotypes.

He said “I accept anyone,” before adding: “To be perfectly honest, in some situations, I actually prefer trans women to original recipe. When you’re watching the game, they can read defenses.”

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