The view weighs in in Chris Rock’s Netflix special, where he addresses Will Smith’s Oscar night sleep.
During the day Chris Rock: Selective outragewhich aired live on the streaming platform on Saturday, the comedian covered a range of topics, but the highly anticipated one was saved for last when he slammed Smith for the infamous showdown of the 2022 Academy Awards broadcast, which saw his wife, Jada Pinkett Smith, dragged on, and focused on the couple’s marital problems.
“He responded to a $40 million Netflix special, which I think is brilliant,” Sunny Hostin began during Monday’s episode of the daytime talk show. “That was his truth, that’s how he experienced it.”
Ana Navarro supported that statement, saying: ‘He has a right to speak his truth. I’m even happier that he’s making money off of it. I think the timing has everything to do with the Oscars being next week and the fact that it’s a year away. I think the show was funny as hell.
While the hosts particularly praised Rock for many of his jokes, some felt certain topics should have been off limits. But Navarro explained that “he’s a comedian, so we won’t agree with everything, but baby, laugh all the way to the bank.”
“Besides, he kept her name out of his mouth [during the special]’ she added jokingly. “He called her all kinds of other things, but he didn’t say ‘Jada’.”
Whoopi Goldberg concluded the discussion by also praising the comedian saying, “He’s not afraid to say how he feels.”
“His ability to say what he sees is amazing and, you know what, this situation is never going to find a really good way to calm down. It just isn’t,” she added. “There is no justification for what happened.”
Goldberg, who serves on the Academy’s board of directors, has previously addressed one of the unforgettable evenings in Oscar history. Before the Academy announced it had banned Smith from attending the Oscars and other Academy events for 10 years, Goldberg theorized what the actor’s behavior at the time might have provoked, saying, “I think there were probably a lot of things are constructed. … I think he had one of those moments where he thought, ‘Just stop.’ I get it, not everyone behaves the way we would like them to under pressure. Some people just snap. He broke.”
Chris Rock: Selective outrage is available to stream on Netflix.