Chris Rock is a savvy businessman. The way he handled The Slap (Slapgate) by Will Smith at last year’s Oscars ceremony is masterful. He performed live on Netflix Saturday night in a show titled “Selective Outrage” and this is the vehicle he used to let the world know his thoughts now on The Slap.

I watched the show because, like a lot of people, I was curious about what Rock was going to say about Will Smith. The show lasted a little more than an hour. I’ve seen many performances by him throughout his career and I find him to be a good stand-up comedian. I will say that this show didn’t have much material that seemed to be fresh or new. A lot of his bits were about cancel culture, victims who have no business crying victimhood (like Meghan Markle), being single, abortion, and raising two daughters. It was the Will Smith stuff that people tuned in for and he left it for the very last.

Rock blamed Jada Pinkett Smith for the attack. He talked about how she cheated on Smith. Jada Pinkett Smith has a Facebook Watch show “Red Table Talk” and Will Smith was a guest who she interviewed about her infidelity. That’s right. Pinkett Smith brought on her husband to talk about her infidelity with him on her Facebook show. It’s all so weird, which Rock pointed out.

“We all been cheated on. Everybody have been cheated on. None of us have ever been interviewed by the person that cheated on us on television,” he said. “She hurt him way more than he hurt me.”

“Everybody in the world called him a b—-,” he added. “I tried to call the motherf—– and give him my condolences; he ain’t pick up for me. Everybody called that man a b—-, f—— Charlamagne [tha God] called him a b—-, “The Breakfast Club” called him a b—– and “The View” and “The Talk,” and every rapper, they called him a b—-, his wife a predator, everybody called him a b—-. Everybody! Everybody! And who does he hit? Me!”

The point being that Smith was humiliated by his wife’s behavior and snapped. He took his anger out on Rock, who is a physically smaller man. Rock made jokes at Pinkett Smith’s expense because, he said, she was angry that Rock was hosting the Oscars though Smith didn’t receive a nomination in 2015 for his role in “Concussion” but he flubbed the reference in the joke.

“So did I do some jokes about it, who gives a f—?” he said. “That’s how it is. She starts it, I finish it. That’s what the f— happened. Nobody’s picking on this b—-. She started this s—.”

Jada Pinkett Smith was angry that Smith wasn’t nominated for his role in “Emancipation,” Rock said. His joke centered around the title of “Concussion”, though.

“Not Emancipation. I fucked up the joke. Concussion,” Rock said, quickly realizing that the punchline on his horizon involved Smith not getting a nomination for Concussion and then … giving him a concussion.

The show was streaming live so there was no fixing it. He quickly recovered and told the joke as he meant to do.

The point one review of the show made is that Rock has told that joke over and over again in the last 10 months in his shows on the road. It’s not a new take on The Slap at all but it is a fact that only people who have gone to his stand-up shows on the road have heard him talk about that night. He’s been road testing his story around he country in his sold-out shows.

Leading up to the time he spent talking about The Slap at the end of the show, Rock referenced that he didn’t need any more rappers angry with him. He did that twice throughout the show. He was teasing the audience, of course, and it was funny.

Rock told he audience he loved Will Smith and was a fan of his music and movies. That has changed. “I rooted for Will Smith my whole life. And now I watch ‘Emancipation’ just to see him whooped.”

At the end of Rock talking about that night, he explained why he didn’t hit Smith back. Earlier in he show, he mentioned his mother was in the audience.

“A lot of people go, ‘Chris, how come you didn’t do, nothing back?’ ‘How come he didn’t do nothing back that night?’ Because I’ve got parents. That’s why. Because I was raised.”

“You know what my parents taught me? Don’t fight in front of White people!”

He dropped the mic and the show came to an end. The audience gave him a standing ovation.

It was an interesting show, but I didn’t find myself laughing out loud. Rock is clearly angry about what happened almost a year ago, as he should be. He’s conducted himself pretty well, though, by not going to social media and taking out his anger there to get attention. Like I said, he’s a savvy businessman and he saved it for a live Netflix performance after road-testing his material on the road for 10 months. He saved it and let interest build. Smart man. The timing was perfect, too, because the Oscars 2023 will air next Sunday night. It will be hosted by Jimmy Kimmel.

I’m not a Kimmel fan.