Tag: Chris Rock

20 Celebrities Who Chose Sobriety: Stories Of Strength, Change & Redemption

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Drugs, alcohol, and fame have long been intertwined in Hollywood’s industry. The constant pressure to perform, maintain a public image, and navigate global scrutiny often drives stars toward self-destructive habits, which are often disguised as a form of relief. For decades, the entertainment industry has glamorized excess, but the reality behind the scenes is far more sobering. It’s a reality that sometimes includes addiction, public breakdowns, and tragic losses. From music icons to movie legends, sober celebrities have found themselves at the crossroads between fame and freedom, choosing recovery as their greatest comeback.

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The industry’s culture of indulgence can lead to dark spirals, mental health struggles, ruined relationships, and even death. It doesn’t always have to end that way, though. Countless stars have fought their way back from addiction, redefining themselves through sobriety. They’ve proven that strength and vulnerability can coexist, and that healing isn’t weakness, but rather a form of power.

Recently, Offset and Allen Iverson have become the latest public figures to open up about their journey to sobriety. Offset revealed that he’s been four years clean from codeine, saying his son inspired him to quit after realizing drugs weren’t necessary for creativity. Meanwhile, NBA Hall of Famer Allen Iverson announced he’s been six months sober from alcohol, calling it one of the best decisions of his life. Both men’s stories show how breaking free from destructive habits can spark a new era of clarity, health, and purpose.

Their stories mirror a growing wave of celebrities who are redefining what strength looks like. Sobriety isn’t just about quitting; it’s about reclaiming control, mental clarity, and emotional stability. From those who hit rock bottom to those who simply wanted better for themselves, their decisions to change prove that redemption is always possible, regardless of fame or fortune. They also further emphasize that recovery and self-control can coexist with success. Check out a list of 20 sober celebrities whose journeys reflect the courage it takes to walk away from addiction, temptation, and old habits in pursuit of peace and purpose. Congrats to all of these people for making a tough but essential decision for the greater good.

1. Robert Downey Jr.

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Once one of Hollywood’s most infamous addicts, Downey Jr. spent years battling heroin and cocaine before finding recovery in 2003. Through therapy, meditation, and family support, he rebuilt his career and life…ultimately becoming Iron Man and one of cinema’s greatest comeback stories.

2. Offset

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The Migos rapper opened up about being fur years sober from codeine, saying he quit after realizing how it affected his family and creativity. He credits fatherhood and self-discipline for helping him stay focused and grounded.

3. Steve-O

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Known for his chaotic Jackass stunts, Steve-O’s partying spiraled into heavy drug use and near death experiences. After an intervention from friends in 2008, he entered rehab and has been sober ever since, now using his platform to help others in recovery.

4. Lena Waithe

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The Emmy-winning writer and producer decided to give up alcohol to prioritize her mental clarity and creative flow. She’s spoken about how sobriety has sharpened her focus and deepened her storytelling.

5. Mary J. Blige

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The Queen of Hip-Hop Soul endured years of alcohol and cocaine abuse while hiding behind fame and success. Over a decade sober, she credits faith, therapy, and music for her healing, calling recovery her “greatest victory.”

6. Eminem

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The rap legend nearly died in 2007 after a methadone overdoes during his battle with prescription pill addiction. Now more than 15 years sober, he says his kids and music gave him purpose to fight for life again.

7. Macklemore

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The Grammy-winning rapper has long been open about his struggles with alcohol and relapse. He continues to live sober and uses music to inspire others to stay strong through addiction recovery.

8. Samuel L. Jackson

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Before becoming one of Hollywood’s most respected actors, Jackson fought heroin and cocaine addiction in the 1980s. Now more than 30 years sober, he credits his wife and family for helping him stay grounded.

9. Demi Lovato

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The pop star’s battles with addiction, overdose, and recovery have been public and painful. Lovato has since found a balanced path, embracing therapy, music, and faith as key parts of their sobriety and mental health journey.

10. Anthony Anderson

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The Black-ish star quit drinking to improve his health and manage diabetes. He says sobriety has given him renewed energy and helped him live more intentionally.

11. Allen Iverson

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Once known for his hard-living lifestyle, the NBA Hall of Famer revealed he’s now six months sober from alcohol. Iverson says the change has brought him peace and a clearer sense of direction.

12. Russell Brand

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The British comedian spent years addicted to heroin and alcohol before entering rehab in 2002. More than 20 years sober now, Brand advocates for recovery, mindfulness, and purpose through his books and podcasts.

13. Fantasia Barrino

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The American Idol winner once leaned on alcohol to cope with pain and pressure after early fame. Today she’s years sober, crediting prayer, family, and self-love for helping her heal.

14. Brad Pitt

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After his public divorce from Angelina Jolie, Pitt sought help for his heavy drinking and depression. Since getting sober, he’s spoken about the power of therapy and emotional honesty in his recovery.

15. Chris Rock

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The comedian revealed he quit drinking and started therapy to manage depression and trauma. He says sobriety has brought him calm, focus, and a deeper sense of personal peace.

16. Doja Cat

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In 2024, Doja Cat shared that she quit drinking after realizing alcohol made her feel “out of control.” She says sobriety has sharpened her creativity and made her feel more in tune with herself.

17. Ben Affleck

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Affleck’s long struggle with alcoholism has led to multiple stints in rehab and public relapses. Now asober and self-aware, he continues to focus on family, acting, and long-term recovery.

18. Doechii

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The rising rapper revealed she was constantly drinking and partying early in her career until she lost sight of herself. After quitting alcohol, she says her creativity and confidence returned stronger than ever.

19. Naomi Capmbell

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The supermodel faced addiction struggles in the early 2000s, entering rehab for cocaine and alcohol abuse. Now sober and focused on health, she’s become an advocate for wellness and emotional recovery.

20. Charlie Sheen

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Once known for his wild partying and public meltdowns, Sheen’s addictions to drugs and alcohol nearly destroyed his career and family life. He’s now been sober since 2017, crediting fatherhood and self-reflection for helping him find peace and stability.

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Davonta Herring

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October 13, 2025
Dave Chappelle’s ‘The Dreamer’ Reflects On That Slap Heard ‘Round The World

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Dave Chappelle calls it “one of the craziest things I have ever seen.”

He is talking, of course, about the infamous Will Smith/Chris Rock Oscars confrontation.

Like many, Chappelle wasn’t sure what he was watching. He thought it was “fake,” and he “waited 30, 40 minutes” before calling Rock to find out what really happened.

“I called him on FaceTime, and he picked up,” Chappelle shared. “Soon as he picked up, he said, ‘Yous the only n***a I’d answer the phone for.’ Apparently, Obama and Oprah, everybody called this n***a to see if everything’s all right.”

“And I thought it was fake. I didn’t know,” he continued. “So I asked. I go, ‘Well, you know.’ He said, ‘What?’ I said, ‘Did it hurt?’ He said, ‘Yes, n***a, it hurt.’ And then I knew it was real. And then, and only then, was I offended.”

Chappelle was offended how “Will just sat down and enjoyed the rest of his evening. It was crazy. What the f**k is this?”

He related the incident to his own on-stage attack at the Hollywood Bowl that same year, when he was tackled by an audience member who ran onstage during his performance.

“For a homeless guy, this n***a had incredible seats,” Chappelle quipped. “Jamie Foxx was the first motherf**r that jumped out of the crowd. He was wearing a white cowboy hat like he knew this s**t was going to happen to me.”

He continued, “Every celebrity just ran out because every celebrity saw themselves in me, and they just started beating the f**k out of that kid. And I know Chris was backstage looking like, ‘Nobody helped me.’”

Chappelle then described what would have happened had Smith attacked him. “I do now know what Will Smith would not have done, and that is enjoy the rest of his evening.”

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Bruce Haring

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January 6, 2024
Jada Pinkett Smith Announces She’s Pregnant With Chris Rock’s Baby

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October 24, 2023
All the Women Chris Rock Has Dated Over the Years

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Rock and Compton-Rock were married for nearly 19 years before they split. According to People, the comedian and former publicist dated for two years before tying the knot on Nov. 23, 1996. Back in 1997, Rock told Ebony Magazine (via People) of his then-wife, “She’s changed me. She’s really calmed me down and centered my life.”

After a few years of marriage, the former couple welcomed their first child, daughter Lola, on June 28, 2002. Their second daughter, Zahra, was born almost two years later on May 22, 2004. In the past, Rock has poked fun at his and Compton-Rock’s girls in his stand-up specials and has even said that he believes they made him a better comedian. “I think I’m a better artist. Everything I’ve done since I’ve had kids is better than the stuff I did before I had kids,” he said back in 2007, per People.

Rock and his ex-wife’s marriage wasn’t without its challenges. According to People, in 2004, the comedian discussed with Howard Stern a sexual encounter that occurred outside of his relationship in 1998. He said he and Compton-Rock were separated at the time. But then came a paternity suit, DNA tests, and a sexual assault allegation, the Los Angeles Times reported in 2009.

Before that, divorce speculation surrounding Rock and his ex-wife surfaced in 2006, with TMZ reporting that the former started formal proceedings. However, the pair then shared a statement with People that said, “We remain, as always, very happy and committed to our marriage and the beautiful family that we have built.”

The following year, Rock fought paternity claims again when a Georgia woman accused the comedian of fathering her teenage son, though Today reported that a DNA test proved the claim to be false. “Though we prefer to keep our private life out of the media, we feel that it is necessary to respond to the many grossly inaccurate media reports that were sold to the tabloids by Kali Bowyer who falsely claimed that Chris Rock fathered her 13-year-old son,” Rock and Compton-Rock said in a joint statement.

The pair called it quits in December 2014, with Compton-Rock sharing a statement, per People, that read: “After much contemplation and 19 years of marriage, Chris and I have decided to go our separate ways.”

Rock issued his own statement via his attorney, saying, “Chris Rock has filed for divorce from his wife, Malaak. This is a personal matter and Chris requests privacy as he and Malaak work through this process and focus on their family.” At the time, a source told People, “This was a long time coming. Chris has known it wasn’t salvageable for a while. He was the one to file because he knew it was time to just move forward already.”

Following their divorce, which was finalized in 2016, Rock was quite candid about his faults in his marriage. A 2017 Rolling Stone profile revealed that Rock said to a comedy-show crowd frankly, “I was a piece of sh*t,” while reflecting on the relationship.

Then in his 2018 Netflix “Tambourine” special, he admitted that he cheated on his wife with three women on tour. “It’s my fault because I’m a f*cking assh*le,” he said, per Us Weekly. “I didn’t listen. I wasn’t kind. I had an attitude. I thought, ‘I pay for everything, I can do what I want.’ That sh*t don’t f*cking work. I just thought I was the sh*t.”

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Njera Perkins

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October 22, 2023
Will Smith Responds To Jada Pinkett Smith’s Confessions In Her New Book

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The article paraphrases Smith, writing that Pinkett Smith “had lived a life more on the edge than he’d realized, and she is more resilient, clever and compassionate than he’d understood.”

“When you’ve been with someone for more than half of your life, a sort of emotional blindness sets in, and you can all too easily lose your sensitivity to their hidden nuances and subtle beauties,” Smith wrote in an email to The New York Times.

Among the revelation that Pinkett Smith and Smith had been separated for the past seven years, Pinkett Smith also writes in her memoir that Chris Rock asked her out in 2016 when he thought she and Smith were separated (they were not).

Pinkett Smith also addressed Smith slapping Rock during the 2022 Academy Awards after Rock made a joke at her expense. When Smith yelled at Rock to keep his wife’s name out of Rock’s mouth, Pinkett Smith said on “Today” that she was surprised because she and Smith hadn’t called each other husband and wife in a “long time.”

“And I think that when we just look at human nature… when you look at the breadcrumbs, people need something to blame,” Pinkett Smith said.

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October 15, 2023
Jada Pinkett Smith Announces She’s Pregnant With Chris Rock’s Baby

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LOS ANGELES—Sharing the exciting personal development with new maternity photos, actor and talk show host Jada Pinkett Smith announced Friday she was pregnant with actor and comedian Chris Rock’s baby. “Chris and I are so overjoyed to be welcoming a new bundle of joy into this world, as we’ve been trying for a long time,” said Pinkett Smith, revealing how the two actors had been flirtatious since starring in the animated film Madagascar and had finally slept together the night of her husband Will Smith’s infamous slap. “When I saw Christ humiliated and broken after he had been slapped across the face, that’s when I knew I wanted to give into this sexual tension that had been building for so long. We’ve been dating ever since, and we just recently moved in together. Of course people out there are going to assume Will would be upset, but he’s actually been our biggest supporter.” At press time, Pinkett Smith announced she would be naming her baby Tupac.

This Week’s Most Viral News: October 13, 2023

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October 13, 2023
Jada Pinkett Smith reveals what Chris Rock said to her after Oscars slap – National | Globalnews.ca
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Jada Pinkett Smith has revealed what happened between her and Chris Rock immediately after her husband, Will Smith, slapped him across the face during the 2022 Oscars ceremony.

The incident has been referred to as “the slap heard around the world,” after Rock made a G.I. Jane joke about Pinkett Smith, who suffers from alopecia and suffers hair loss. Smith took issue with the joke and walked onto the Oscars stage from his front-row seat and open-palm slapped Rock across the face.

Smith returned to his seat and shouted for Rock to “Keep my wife’s name out of your f–-ing mouth!”

In an interview with Hoda Kotb of NBC’s Today show, set to air in its entirety Friday night, Pinkett Smith revealed that she and Rock had a brief conversation immediately after the slap while snippets for the best documentary nominees were being shown.

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Will Smith on the infamous Oscars slap of Chris Rock: ‘I lost it’

“Chris looks to me and he says, ‘Jada, I meant no harm,’” she recalls. “I’m just out of it because I’m really worried about Will. And Will’s still talking. Now he’s mad because Chris is talking to me.”

“And I go, ‘Chris, this is about some old s–t.’ That’s all I could think of saying, right? And I couldn’t really take in his apology.”

It recently came to light that Pinkett Smith and Rock have a long history together. The Matrix Reloaded actor revealed in an interview with People this week that Rock asked her out on a date while rumours were swirling that her and Smith were headed for divorce.

“I think every summer, all the reports would come out that me and Will were getting a divorce. And this particular summer, Chris, he thought that we were getting a divorce,” she said.

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“So he called me and basically he was like, ‘I’d love to take you out.’ And I was like, ‘What do you mean?’ He was like, ‘Well, aren’t you and Will getting a divorce?’ I was like, ‘No. Chris, those are just rumors.’ He was appalled. And he profusely apologized, and that was that.”

As for Smith, he explained in an interview that took place shortly after the 2022 Oscars that there were “many nuances and complexities” as to why he slapped Rock.

“But at the end of the day, I just — I lost it.”

And yet, while Pinkett Smith and Smith are still legally married, they are no longer romantically together, Pinkett Smith shared in the interview with Kotb.
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“It was not a divorce on paper,” Kotb clarified.

“Right,” Pinkett Smith responded.

“…but it was a divorce,” Kotb said.

“Divorce,” Pinkett Smith emphasized.

According to Pinkett Smith, the pair have been separated since 2016 while maintaining the appearance of being a committed, married couple in the public eye.

“By the time we got to 2016, we were just exhausted with trying. I think we were both kind of just still stuck in our fantasy of what we thought the other person should be,” she said.

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So when Smith told Rock to “keep my wife’s name” out of his mouth after the Oscars slap, Pinkett Smith said she was shocked.

“We haven’t called each other husband and wife in a long time. I’m like ‘What is going on right now?’”

After the slap, Smith went on to win the best actor award for his role in King Richard. He has also been banned from Academy Awards for 10 years.

Discussing his behaviour that night, Kotb said it seemed “totally out of character” for Smith.

“It’s not him whatsoever,” Pinkett Smith agreed.

1:14
Chris Rock references Will Smith’s Oscars slap in live comedy special
&copy 2023 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.

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Kathryn Mannie

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October 13, 2023
‘I said I can’t talk about this now’: Jada Pinkett Smith reveals Chris Rock ‘tried to apologize’ after Will Smith Oscars slap episode

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Jada Pinkett Smith has been making headlines lately after she made some shocking revelations on her marital status with actor Will Smith. The renowned American actress confirmed that she and Smith parted ways in 2016, and have been leading separate lives since then. Jada Pinkett Smith also opened up about Will Smith‘s infamous Oscars slap episode, that involved comedian-host Chris Rock, recently.

For the unversed, the actress made some shocking revelations on her dynamics with estranged husband Will Smith, and actor-comedian Chris Rock, in her latest chat with People Magazine. In the interview, Jada Pinkett Smith revealed that Rock had ‘tried to apologize’ after the Oscars 2022 event. However, she further added that she never spoke to him after the eventful night.

Jada Pinkett Smith reveals Chris Rock tried to apologize to her

In her interview with People Magazine, Jada Pinkett Smith recalled Will Smith’s infamous Oscars 2022 slap episode, which happened after the show’s host Chris Rock cracked an insensitive joke about her health condition. “Chris came down to the end of the stage and tried to apologize to me. He said, ‘I didn’t mean you any harm,’” revealed Pinkett Smith.

However, the actress, who was in complete shock, refused to discuss the incident with the comedian at that point. “I said, ‘I can’t talk about this now, Chris. This is some old shit.’ I thought this was about the Oscar 2016 and… the stuff that they had before I even came into the picture in the late ‘80s. I’ve got to leave that to Will and Chris to talk about, but they got their stuff for sure,” Jada Pinkett Smith further added.

Jada Pinkett Smith never spoke to Chris Rock again

According to Jada Pinkett Smith, she never spoke to Chris Rock again after the eventful Oscars 2022 night. “No, I haven’t talked to Chris ROCK…Do I have any desire to talk to Chris? Here’s my desire- I just hope that all the misunderstanding around this can be cleared up and that there can be peace,” the actress said in her chat with People Magazine, hinting that she is done talking about the incident over and over.

“I would just have to say that I am not really here to make any judgment on how people decide to express themselves and express their art. I’ll say that several times I’ve had my feelings hurt, for sure. I’ve had my feelings hurt a lot by Chris. But at the end of the day, too, being in the spotlight, it comes with the territory,” she concluded.

ALSO READ: ‘I was in so much pain’: Jada Pinkett Smith reveals she ‘made a plan’ for her ‘death’ at 40; Details inside

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1136847

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October 11, 2023
Jada Pinkett Smith Reveals First Words To Will Smith After Infamous Oscars Slap

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Jada Pinkett Smith is getting more candid than ever about the slap heard ’round the world.

The 52-year-old actor, who has alopecia, literally had a front-row seat at the 2022 Academy Awards when host Chris Rock joked about her shaved head ― and when her husband, Will Smith, walked on stage and slapped Rock in the face in front of a live television audience of millions.

Smith later said he was “deeply remorseful” for his actions, and Pinkett Smith expressed a hope that “that these two intelligent, capable men have an opportunity to heal, talk this out, and reconcile.” Now, though, she’s offering a much closer look into her thoughts and feelings since that night.

“I thought, ‘This is a skit,’” Pinkett Smith told People in an exclusive interview published Wednesday. “I was like, ‘There’s no way that Will hit him.’ It wasn’t until Will started to walk back to his chair that I even realized it wasn’t a skit.”

Pinkett Smith said her first words to Smith after he sat down were: “Are you okay?”

Rock was presenting the award for Best Documentary Feature when he joked about Pinkett Smith starring in a sequel to “G.I. Jane,” a 1997 film in which Demi Moore’s character shaves her head and joins the Navy Seals. Pinkett Smith first publicly spoke about her alopecia in 2018.

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences ultimately banned Smith from attending the Oscars for 10 years. Academy president David Rubin and CEO Dawn Hudson argued in a statement that “the safety of our performers and guests” is imperative.

Jada Pinkett Smith and Will Smith had front-row seats at the 2022 Oscars when host Chris Rock joked about Pinkett Smith’s shaved head.

Chris Pizzello/Associated Press

In an unexpected development, Pinkett Smith told Hoda Kotb in an upcoming “Today” interview that she and Smith have been separated since 2016. Pinkett Smith, who is currently promoting her new book “Worthy,” likened it to a “divorce.”

“I think by the time we got to 2016, we were just exhausted with trying,” she told Kotb. “I think we were both kind of just still stuck in our fantasy of what we thought the other person should be. I made a promise that there will never be a reason for us to get a divorce.”

The mother of two also told People she became suicidal after starting to date Smith in 1995, and that she “completely abandoned” her mental health during those early years. Pinkett Smith said she was “intoxicated” by Smith and felt like she was “cured,” because Smith “became the drug.”

Pinkett Smith has espoused the benefits of psychedelics in her mental health journey, and she did so again in her interview with People. Rock, meanwhile, used his Oscars experience as fodder for a Netflix special released earlier this year.

“She hurt him way more than she hurt me,” Rock said in the special, referring to Pinkett Smith and Smith. “Everybody in the world called him a bitch. I tried to call the motherfucker, I tried to call that man and give him my condolences … Everybody called him a bitch and who’s he hit? Me.”

Pinkett Smith’s “Today” interview airs Friday on NBC. Read the full interview with Pinkett Smith in People.

If you or someone you know needs help, call or text 988 or chat 988lifeline.org for mental health support. Additionally, you can find local mental health and crisis resources at dontcallthepolice.com. Outside of the U.S., please visit the International Association for Suicide Prevention.

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October 11, 2023
Chris Rock Went to Counseling After Will Smith Oscars Slap, Says Leslie Jones

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More than 18 months after Will Smith slapped Chris Rock at the Oscars, celebrities are still speaking about the fallout. Following Sean Penn’s claim that the incident “never would have happened” had actor turned Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy been present for the Oscars telecast, Leslie Jones has offered some insight about how Rock dealt with the slap’s aftermath.

“That shit was humiliating. It really affected him,” Jones put it plainly in a recent People interview. “People need to understand his daughters, his parents, saw that. He had to go to counseling with his daughters,” she continued, referencing Rock’s children Lola, 21, and Zahra, 19.

Rock himself has spoken about the slap, which occurred after he made a joke about Jada Pinkett-Smith. “I’m not a victim,” Rock said in his Netflix comedy special Selective Outrage. “You will never see me on Oprah or Gayle crying, saying, ‘I couldn’t believe it. I love Men in Black.’” Jones applauded Rock, who wrote the foreword to her new memoir, for speaking about the altercation onstage. “Everybody got pissed off about him doing a special. That’s what comedians do,” Jones said. “Instead of us going crazy we fucking go talk about it on the fucking stage. Thank God we’ve got the stage.”

Jones then expressed her own reaction to the slap, which resulted in Smith’s resignation from the Academy and the actor being banned from attending the ceremony for the next decade. “It made me so infuriated. You don’t know that I was going to jump in my car and roll up there [to the 2022 Oscars],” Jones said. “I was so fucking mad on so many levels. For a long ass time I was just mad. Chris Rock did a fucking joke. I know Will, too…I was like, you couldn’t handle that shit afterwards. This is the Oscars. The whole world is watching.”

She later told Rock, “I was like, ‘Chris, when he got up, why didn’t you run?’ I would’ve been running around that stage like, ‘Will, calm down. Jada, call your man!’” Jones maintained that Smith “could have still fixed it” when he returned to the podium to accept the best actor award for King Richard. According to Jones, Smith should have said, “‘I shouldn’t have did that. Bring Chris out. I can not accept the Oscar right now because that was fucking wrong.’”

Rock hasn’t expressly shared his family’s reaction to the slap, but Rose Rock, Chris’s mother, has offered her blunt reaction: “When he slapped Chris, he slapped all of us,” she said shortly after the incident, adding, “he really slapped me. Because when you hurt my child, you hurt me.” In his July 2022 apology video, Smith directly apologized to Rock’s mother and Rock’s brother, Tony Rock, who called the slap “foul” in a series of tweets. “We had a great relationship,” Smith says about Tony. “Tony Rock was my man. And this is probably irreparable.” A source told People at the time that Chris Rock was “assessing” the incident, but that “the stress of the slap and the aftermath has not taken over his life. Quite the opposite.”

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Savannah Walsh

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September 18, 2023
Death investigated at Burning Man while 70,000 festival attendees remain stuck in Nevada desert after rain | CNN

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CNN
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Authorities are investigating a death at the Burning Man festival in the Nevada desert as thousands of people remain trapped on site after heavy rains inundated the area and created thick, ankle-deep mud which sticks to campers’ shoes and vehicle tires.

Attendees were told to shelter in place in the Black Rock Desert and conserve food, water and fuel after a rainstorm swamped the area, forcing officials to halt any entering or leaving of the festival.

“A little over 70,000 people,” remained stranded Saturday, Sgt. Nathan Carmichael, with the Pershing County Sheriff’s Office, told CNN Sunday morning. Some people have left the site by walking out but “most of the RVs are stuck in place,” he said.

On Sunday morning, event organizers said roads remained closed as they were “too wet and muddy” and more uncertain weather was likely on the way. While some vehicles were able to leave, others got stuck in the mud, organizers said on the event’s website.

“Please do NOT drive at this time,” they added. “We will update you on the driving ban after this weather front has left the area.”

The remote area in northwest Nevada was hit with 2 to 3 months’ worth of rain – up to 0.8 inches – in just 24 hours between Friday and Saturday morning. The heavy rainfall fell on dry desert grounds, whipping up thick, clay-like mud festivalgoers said was too difficult to walk or bike through.

The sheriff’s office said it is investigating “a death which occurred during this rain event.” Authorities did not publicly name the person or provide details on the circumstances of the death.

“The family has been notified and the death is under investigation,” the sheriff’s office said in a late Saturday news release.

The individual was found on the playa and lifesaving procedures to revive them were not successful, Carmichael said Sunday, but did not share further details.

Playa is the term used to describe sunken dry lake beds in deserts where water evaporates rather than running off, and even a small amount of rain can quickly soak a large area.

Event organizers said they plan to burn the Man – the huge totem set on fire at the festival’s culmination – on Sunday night, if weather allows.

The rainy conditions forecast over the area for Sunday afternoon had mostly passed to the east of the festival site, according to a social media post from organizers, though there is still a chance of showers and thunderstorms “for the rest of daylight hours” into the evening.

Drone video shows vehicles stranded and stuck at Burning Man

Authorities have not provided information on when roads could reopen, but the sunshine is expected to return Monday.

“We do not currently have an estimated time for the roads to be dry enough for RVs or vehicles to navigate safely,” Burning Man organizers said in a Saturday evening statement. “Monday late in the day would be possible if weather conditions are in our favor. It could be sooner.”

Organizers noted the rain falling on an already saturated playa overnight and Sunday “will affect the amount of time it takes for the playa to dry.”

For now, the gate and airport into Black Rock City remain closed and no driving is allowed into or out of the city except for emergency vehicles, the organizers said on social media. Black Rock City is a temporary metropolis erected annually for the festival and comes complete with emergency, safety and sanitary infrastructure.

The rain “made it virtually impossible for motorized vehicles to traverse the playa,” the Pershing County Sheriff’s Office said, noting people were advised to shelter in place until the ground has dried enough to drive on safely.

Vehicles trying to drive out will get stuck in the mud, Burning Man organizers said Saturday. “It will hamper Exodus if we have cars stuck on roads in our camping areas, or on the Gate Road out of the city,” the organizers added.

“If you are in BRC, please shelter in place & stay safe,” organizers said.

Storms and heavy rains across Nevada flooded other parts of the state and may have led to another death. In Las Vegas, authorities found a person unresponsive and “entangled with debris,” on Saturday morning who is believed to be “a drowning victim,” according to Jace Radke, a spokesperson for the city. An investigation is ongoing, Radke said in a news release.

Some festivalgoers hiked miles on foot in the thick mud to reach main roads while others stayed at their camps, hoping for conditions to improve.

Hannah Burhorn, a first-time attendee at the festival, told CNN people were trudging through the mud barefoot or with bags tied around their feet.

“People who have tried to bike through it and have gotten stuck because it’s about ankle deep,” Burhorn said. The mud is so thick it “sticks to your shoes and makes it almost like a boot around your boot,” she added.

It’s unclear exactly how many people are stranded at the festival, but typically more than 70,000 people attend the weeklong event. It’s being held from August 28 to September 4 this year.

There weren’t any reports of injuries as of Saturday afternoon, Sean Burke, the director of emergency management for Pershing County, told CNN.

Amar Singh Duggal and his friends managed to leave the festival after hiking about 2 miles in the mud, he told CNN. He estimated it took them about 2 hours to get to a main road where they arranged to be picked up and taken to Reno, about a 120-mile drive from the event grounds.

“We made it, but it was pure hell (walking) through the mud,” Duggal said. “Each step felt like we were walking with two big cinder blocks on our feet.”

Among those attending the festival was DJ Diplo and comedian Chris Rock.

Rock posted a video on Instagram of thick mud and Diplo posted a series of videos in which he said a fan offered him and Rock a ride out of the site.

The DJ said they walked several miles and were able to get to a nearby airport.

Meanwhile, attendees who typically dedicate their time to making art and building community are now also focused on rationing supplies and dealing with connectivity issues.

“There is super limited bandwidth and a lot of people at the camp (are) trying to cancel flights and arrange for extended time here” due to the weather, Burhorn told CNN via text message from a Wi-Fi camp.

Still, the poor conditions have not stopped the creativity, said Burhorn, who had traveled from San Francisco.

“People are building mud sculptures,” she said.

Andrew Hyde, another attendee stuck at the Burning Man, said despite the muddy conditions making it difficult to walk, the weather has taken the meaning of the event back to its roots.

“You come out here to be in a harsh climate, and you prepare for that,” Hyde told CNN’s Paula Newton. “So in many ways, everybody here just kind of made friends with their neighbors and it’s a community event.”

Morale at the event is OK and there’s generally no panic among the attendees, Hyde said, describing music returning overnight.

There are worries about the additional rain causing delays, however, and the unknowns of worsening conditions.

“I think the concern is if we have another rain,” he said. “People need to go back to their jobs, back to the responsibilities they have back home.”

Organizers announced Saturday night they’ll be putting mobile cell trailers in different positions, configuring the organization’s Wi-Fi system for public access and deploying buses to nearby Gerlach to take people who might walk off the playa to Reno.

“This is not likely a 24-hour operation at this time,” the festival said in a statement on its website.

Organizers are also resourcing four-wheel-drive vehicles and all-terrain tires to help ferry medical and other urgent situations to the blacktop.

There have been people who managed to walk to a main road and were waiting for transport from the festival organizers Saturday night, the Pershing County Sheriff’s Office said.

Resources have been brought in from around northern Nevada to help people with medical needs on the event grounds, the sheriff’s office said.

“Burning Man is a community of people who are prepared to support one another,” Burning Man said on its website. “We have come here knowing this is a place where we bring everything we need to survive. It is because of this that we are all well-prepared for a weather event like this.”

“We have done table-top drills for events like this,” organizers added. “We are engaged full-time on all aspects of safety and looking ahead to our Exodus as our next priority.”

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September 3, 2023
Chris Rock and Joel Kinnaman Flee Burning Man Festival In Wake Of Flooding, Death

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Since its founding in 1986, the Burning Man celebration has attracted artists and iconoclasts, sending thousands to its site in the Black Rock Desert of northwestern Nevada every August. But this year, some of the most famous creatives at the festival are fighting their way out, not in, with boldfaced names hitching rides away from a flooded, fatal site.

Even before this year’s event kicked off, things felt different. Tickets to Burning Man, which are typically in short supply, were freely available from second parties at discounted rates, SFist reports, as “For whatever reason, lots of people have had second thoughts and decided they don’t want tickets they already bought.”

Those who did decide to go also faced pre-event adversity, as weather related to Tropical Storm Hillary shut down early entry, turned Burning Man’s temporary Black Rock City into a mudpit, and prompted organizers to close the site’s gates, SF Gate reported last month.

But by Burning Man’s first day, on August 27, attendees started rolling in, including stars like comedian Chris Rock, music magnate Diplo, Suicide Squad star Joel Kinnaman, and model Kelly Gale all in attendance.

One hopes that they, as well as the 73,000 or so other participants, had a nice time those first few days. By Friday night, things at Burning Man—which has always placed an emphasis on “radical self-reliance”—got even more challenging than usual. That’s when over half an inch of rain fell on the playa, the New York Times reports, leaving participants in “incredibly muddy conditions, water puddled to their ankles and more rain expected.”

“Even walking was treacherous as thick, slimy mud clung to shoes and anything else it touched,” the Reno Gazette Journal reports of conditions at the fest this weekend.

According to local law enforcement officials, one Burning Man attendee died “during this rain event,” but no other details, including the cause of death or identity of the deceased, were available as of publication time.

These conditions were taken in stride by longtime Burners, as established members of the community are known. “All our neighboring camps seem to be embracing the experience and having fun,” seven-time attendee Karen Calisterio told the San Francisco Chronicle.

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Conditions this weekend are severe enough that the Bureau of Land Management and the Pershing County Sheriff’s Office closed off access to the area, officials said via X (formerly Twitter). “Please avoid traveling to the area; you will be turned around,” they wrote Saturday evening. “All event access is closed.”

Meanwhile, officials urged folks who were already there to remain, NBC Bay Area reports. Attendees were asked to shelter-in-place and conserve their remaining food, as departure “is not recommended at this time,” the Sheriff’s Office said via statement.

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Eve Batey

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September 3, 2023
Chris Rock Escapes Burning Man After He And Diplo Hitch A Ride In The Back Of A Pickup Truck

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By Miguel A. Melendez, ETOnline.com.
Published: 7 hours ago

Thousands of other attendees, however, have been asked to shelter in place and conserve food and water.

Chris Rock is no longer trapped at the Burning Man Festival. The 58-year-old comedian made it out after he and Diplo hitched a ride with a fan who offered them a ride on the back of his pickup truck.

The famous DJ took to Instagram moments ago and posted a video showing him, Rock and a few others in the bed of a pickup truck. Diplo shared that they walked for six miles before someone offered them a ride. The comedian rocked a New York Knicks jacket, black hat and shades. After getting out of dodge, Rock made it clear what he wanted next, a cold brew!

Shortly after Diplo shared the update on Instagram, the Washoe County Sheriff’s Department announced the closure of the entrance to Burning Man for the remainder of the event, which was slated to run until Monday. Officials are asking people to avoid the area or “you will be turned around.”

For most of the day it seemed like Rock would be among the thousands upon thousands who would be stuck at Burning Man, after a heavy rainstorm pummeled Nevada’s Black Rock Desert. The inclement weather triggered a “shelter in place” order and festival organizers implored attendees to conserve food and water.

Rock had been documenting the experience on his Instagram Stories, which included a since-expired Story in which he shared that “because of the flooding, the port-o-potties reportedly can’t be emptied. And because the gates are closed, people can’t get in to fill generators or deliver supplies.”

Rock later posted, on Saturday morning, a short video showing the heavy mud making it impossible to get around the area. Another attendee posted a video on TikTok showing him walking in ankle-deep mud. The Burning Man X account on Friday offered a grim update.

“For anyone in BRC, help each other stay safe. The gate and airport in and out of Black Rock City remain closed,” the tweet read. “Ingress and egress are halted for the time being. Stay prepared for adverse weather conditions continuing through the night and into Saturday.”

Photo: Instagram/ @ChrisRock

@bryfreeman216

#burningman2023 #naturaldisaster #burningman #burners #blackrockcity #nevada #sparklepony #artcar #interactiveArt #shelterinplace #portapotty

♬ Sun Is Shining – Bob Marley

The Gate and airport in and out of Black Rock City remain closed. Ingress and egress are halted for the time being, including Burner Express Air and Bus. No driving is permitted on playa except for emergency vehicles. If you are in BRC, please shelter in place and stay safe ❤️

— Burning Man Traffic (@bmantraffic) September 2, 2023

The area was rocked with heavy rain Friday night and into Saturday morning. As of Saturday afternoon, only emergency vehicles are allowed to go in and out of Black Rock City in northwest Nevada.

Festival organizers have said more rain is expected overnight Saturday, with rain and thunderstorms expected to batter the area early Sunday morning and continue into the afternoon. According to the National Weather Service, a flash flood watch will remain in effect in the area through Monday morning.

There’s upwards of 70,000 attendees at Burning Man, and at this point it’s unclear when they’ll be given the clear to go home. The Burning Man Festival — described as “a global ecosystem of artists, makers, and community organizers who co-create art, events, and local initiatives” — commenced the summer of 1986 in San Francisco. The festival moved to Nevada in 1991.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NLQKlVt2B1Q

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Melissa Romualdi

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September 2, 2023
“Tell Them About The Dream, Martin!” Mahalia Jackson

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On August 28, 1963, The March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom drew a quarter of a million people to the nation’s capital in order to protest racial discrimination and advocate for equal rights and opportunities for Black citizens. It is rightly considered a milestone in the civil rights movement of the 1960s and remains a perpetual source of inspiration and courage. It also led to the passing of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which the U.S. Department of Labor describes as prohibiting “discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, sex or national origin.”

A consortium of activists, labor unions, and community leaders organized the March, which culminated at the Lincoln Memorial. Speeches were given by, among others, future Congressman John Lewis, Walter Reuther, head of the United Auto Workers, and – most memorably – the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Dr. King’s words ring out through the decades:

Now is the time to make real the promises of democracy. Now is

the time to rise from the dark and desolate valley of segregation

to the sunlit path of racial justice. Now is the time to lift our

nation from the quicksands of racial injustice…

In the course of Dr. King’s remarks, Gospel Singer Mahalia Jackson called out, “Tell them about the dream, Martin!” Dr. King put aside his prepared text and – speaking informally and directly from the heart – did just that.

I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia, the sons

of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be

able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood. I have a

dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a state

sweltering with the heat of injustice, sweltering with the heat of

oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and

justice. I have a dream that my four little children will one day

live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of

their skin but by the content of their character.

America has made great strides toward realizing Dr. King’s dream – but has also signally failed to live up to its potential as a haven for all. The current state of the Body Politic, wracked with hatred and ignorance, is proof positive that his good work is not yet done.

One very important means of continuing his work is by exercising the right to vote. If you doubt the power of voting, look at the many ways the enemies of freedom attempt to steal, subvert, or destroy it.

Therefore, it is fitting that on November 3rd, 2023 (Election Day), Netflix will premiere Rustin at in select theatres across America. The film – Executive Producers: Barack and Michelle Obama’s Higher Ground Productions – is based on the life of Black leader and activist Bayard Rustin (1912-1987). One of the main organizers of the August 1963 March on Washington, Rustin’s story is not only about race and politics. As a gay Black man, he faced additional challenges in both white and African-American communities.

RUSTIN | Official Teaser Trailer | Netflixwww.youtube.com

Directed by DGA award and five-time Tony Award winner George C. Wolfe (Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom) and starring Emmy Award winner Colman Domingo, Rustin shines a long overdue spotlight on the extraordinary man who, alongside giants like the Reverend Martin Luther King Jr., Adam Clayton Powell Jr., and Ella Baker, dared to re-envision our entire world, and ignited a movement with a mighty march toward freedom. Produced by Academy Award winner Bruce Cohen, Higher Ground’s Tonia Davis, and George C. Wolfe, the film features an all-star cast including Chris Rock, Glynn Turman, Jeffrey Wright, and Audra McDonald.

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Popdust Staff

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August 28, 2023
Chris Rock Slams Woke Business Culture in Netflix Special | Entrepreneur

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Chris Rock wasn’t afraid to take aim at business culture in his new Netflix special.

The comedian ranted about businesses trying to be “woke” in Netflix’s first-ever live-streaming event, which took place on March 4 at the Hippodrome Theatre in Baltimore, Maryland.

“In the old days, if someone just wanted your job, they just worked harder than you. Now, if somebody wants your job, they just wait for you to say some dumb s**t,” he said within the first couple minutes of his set.

RELATED: All the Details of the Netflix Password-Sharing Update Nobody Wanted

While he said he is for the representation of marginalized communities, he said he takes issue with the hypocrisies of cancel culture, which he calls “selective outrage.” To illustrate his point, he called out people typing their criticism tweets “on a phone made by child[ren].”

However, he said these people alone aren’t the problem, adding, “not only is everybody full of s**t, every business is full of s**t.”

Rock said that companies don’t “even tell you about the product” anymore, but rather “how much charity they do.”

In the special, he called out Lululemon and Subaru for their charity advertisements and even took aim at Tesla, Elon Musk’s electric car company.

The special is currently ranked No. 1 as Netflix’s top TV show in the U.S.

Back in 2016, Rock agreed to a two-special deal for $40 million, according to the Hollywood Reporter. Rock dropped his first special “Tamborine” in 2018.

RELATED: Here’s Everything We Know About the Will Smith, Chris Rock Altercation at the 2022 Oscars

Rock also addressed the infamous slap incident at the 2022 Oscars, saying “Everybody called him a [b—-] and who does he hit? Me.”

In the special, Rock talked about his humble upbringing and identified as “poor.” Rock’s reported net worth is about $60 million.

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Sam Silverman

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March 6, 2023
Chris Rock’s Live Netflix Special Revives “Slap” Discourse and A Lot More

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Remember when Will Smith went nuts and whapped Chris Rock across the face in the middle of the Oscars? It was no dream! Netflix did everything they could on Saturday night to make no one will ever forget, and deployed some bleeding edge streaming technology (we call it “live television,” producers said to a hushed boardroom) to ensure Rock’s newest special, Selective Outrage, had maximum impact.

The show was Netflix’s first live broadcast play (and remains viewable on the platform for those who missed it) and was perfectly timed—one week before the next Academy Awards ceremony, in which the only thing more guaranteed than Ke Huy Quan winning for Best Supporting Actor is host Jimmy Kimmel making some kind of crack about “The Slap.” Rock saved nearly all his Will Smith-related gags until the very end, surely keeping engagement levels in the stratosphere. Paramedics were dispatched to Netflix’s main offices after execs collided with one another from all the cartwheels they were doing.

While Rock has been workshopping some of this material on the road since last year (the line “anyone who says words hurt has never been punched in the face” brought the house down at the Madison Square Garden comedy summit with Rock, Kevin Hart, and Dave Chappelle last August), Netflix’s stream from Baltimore’s Hippodrome Theatre was the first time a mass audience got to hear his uncensored thoughts.

As V.F. reported, the set dug in quite extensively. Rock discussed how the incident has irrevocably changed his opinion on Smith’s work (“Now I watch Emancipation just to see him get whooped. Got me rooting for massa. Hit him again, massa. Hit him again. You missed a spot,”) and how pitting the guy who played Muhammad Ali in a movie against “Pookie from New Jack City” is not a fair fight. “Will Smith does movies with his shirt off,” Rock joked. “You never seen me do a move with my shirt off. If I’m in a movie getting open heart surgery, I have on a sweater.”

Most controversially, however, was Rock getting into Smith’s private life, and his relationship with his wife, Jada Pinkett Smith. His thesis (and, indeed, the title of the special) was that Smith was engaging in selective outrage, and taking out his anger at being cuckolded on one person: Chris Rock. (And he used some very vituperative words to expand on this, which we’re not going to get into here.)

So what’s the Sunday morning reaction like?

Many felt it was a slam dunk. Others said they got off the Rock train a long time ago. And a great many people felt that, perhaps, Rock went a little overboard with his rhetorical flourish of using the term “bitch” again and again. (It built up to a specific joke, but it did, indeed, go on for some time!)

USA Today went so far as to call the set “old man yelling at clouds,” an old Simpsons gag. “If he is going to joke about Jada Pinkett Smith and extensively address the Oscars slap, the punchline has to be better than calling her a gendered slur over and over again,” the outlet wrote.

Rock’s final line of the show (indeed, he ended with a mic drop—nay, a mic hurl) was explaining why he didn’t fight back. “Because I got parents, that’s why,” he said. “You know what my parents taught me? Don’t fight in front of white people.”

Here are just a few of the social media reactions related to those two controversial moments in the show.

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Jordan Hoffman

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March 5, 2023
Chris Rock on Will Smith’s Marriage: “She Hurt Him Way More Than He Hurt Me”

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It’s been almost a year since Chris Rock was slapped at the Oscars by Will Smith. During Netflix’s first-ever global live streaming event, Chris Rock: Selective Outrage, it felt at times as if Rock was making viewers wait another year to hear his side of the story. But when he finally spoke candidly about the slap, he didn’t hold back.

Before Rock’s historic live streaming comedy special began, Netflix presented a live comedy event, The Show Before The Show, hosted by Ronny Chieng at the Comedy Store in Los Angeles featuring comedians and personalities, including Curb Your Enthusiasm‘s J.B. Smoove, basketball legend Kareem Abdul Jabar, and Insecure‘s Yvonne Orji, as well as Arsenio Hall, David Spade, Dana Carvey, and Leslie Jones. The vibe felt like the exact opposite of a roast of Rock, with many of the guests gassing Rock up before he took the stage. ““You are the shit. You are an icon. You are the goat. You are everything,” said Jones.

Moments later—across the country in Baltimore, Maryland—Rock, decked out in all white and rocking a necklace with Prince’s logo, took the stage and received a rapturous standing ovation. After basking in the glow, Rock screamed, “Nigga, sit down” at an apparently overly enthusiastic audience member, proving that what we were watching was, in fact, live.

“Anybody who says that words hurt has never been punched in the face,” said Rock at the top of his set. “Words hurt when you write them on a brick.” While he began with that allusion to Will Smith, it would be over an hour before Rock would really dive into Smith material, instead choosing to tell wide variety of jokes on the subject of “selective outrage” from the political to the personal.

“I have no problem with wokeness. I have no problem with it at all. I’m all for social justice. I’m all for marginalized people getting their rights,” he said. “The thing I have a problem with is the selective outrage.” He then gave a definition of the phenomenon: ”One person does something they get canceled. Somebody else does the exact same thing… nothing. The kind of people that play Michael Jackson songs but won’t play R. Kelly. Same crime, but one of them just got better songs.”

In front of a background that resembled a cracked mirror (perhaps an allusion to the old adage “those in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones”), Rock riffed on selective outrage for an hour, telling funny jokes about Lulu Lemon, the January 6th capitol rioters, and Meghan Markle. His second and third references to the Oscar slap occurred in two separate bits about rappers Snoop Dogg and Jay Z. “The last thing I need is another mad rapper,” Rock said as the punch lines to both jokes, foreshadowing what was to come with Smith. But rather than dive straight into the juiciest material of the night, the comedian saved the best for last, and instead regaled the audience with personal stories. Rock joked about how he had a hand in getting his daughter, Lola Rock, getting expelled from her private high school. “I need you to kick her black ass out of this school,” he said. “I need my daughter to learn her lesson before so she doesn’t end up on only fans.” He also opened up about his recent exploits as a single man post-divorce from his wife of 18 years, Malaak Compton-Rock. “Ladies I will lick your ass and never call you again,” he said. “But if we hold hands, you my girl.”

Eventually, Rock spoke candidly about all things Will and Jada Pinkett Smith. For anyone who’s been keeping abreast of Rock’s comedy, it was clear that he’s been workshopping material for this show, with many of the jokes that he’s reportedly told about the Slap making their way into his set tonight. “Did it hurt? It still hurts. I got ‘Summertim’ ringing in my ears,” he said, retelling a joke he recently tried out at The Comedy Cellar. “I know you can’t tell on camera, but Will Smith is significantly bigger than me,” said Rock, another joke he tested at The Cellar. “Will Smith does movies with his shirt off. You never seen me do a move with my shirt off. If I’m in a movie getting open heart surgery I have on a sweater.”

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Chris Murphy

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March 4, 2023
Chris Rock makes Netflix history (live!) | CNN

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CNN
—

It’s the night Chris Rock makes streaming history.

“Chris Rock is in Samurai mode,” comedian Leslie Jones said in an intro.

And he is.

“I’m going to try to do a show tonight without offending nobody. I’m going to try my best, because you never know who might get triggered,” Rock said as he opened his set from Baltimore. “People always say words hurt … anybody who says words hurt has never been punched in the face.”

He went on: “I have no problem with the wokeness. I have no problem with it at all. I’m all for social justice. I’m all for marginalized people getting their rights. The thing I have a problem with is the selective outrage,” Rock said. “You know what i’m talking about. One person does something, they get canceled. Somebody else does the exact same thing, nothing. You know what I’m talking about … the kind of people who play Michael Jackson songs but won’t play R. Kelly. Same crime, one of them just has better songs.”

Rock, wearing all white and a Prince symbol medallion necklace, stood in front of a background that resembled cracked mirrors. (Suggesting, perhaps, a theme of people who live in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones.)

Rock hit on several topical issues, including addiction, abortion, racism in America, Meghan, Duchess of Sussex and the Kardashian family.

Tackling the country’s division, Rocked said, “America is in horrible shape right now.”

“We got it worse than Ukraine. Yeah, I said it. You know why? Because Ukraine is united and America is clearly divided,” Rock joked. “If the Russians came here right now, half the country would say, “Let’s hear them out.’ We’re in a bad place right now.”

Rock delved into his romantic life, saying when he realized his pillow cases were dirty, he realized how much women do for men.

“I’m trying to date women my age, which is 10 to 15 years younger than me,” he said. “Don’t hate the player, hate the game. I didn’t get rich and stay in shape to talk about Anita Baker. I’m trying to f— Doja Cat.”

“Chris Rock: Selective Outrage,” the first ever live global streaming event for Netflix.

The performance marks Rock’s sixth standup special and his second for Netflix after 2018’s “Tamborine,” directed by Bo Burnham.

A pre-show kicked off with Ronny Chieng live from Los Angeles, where he told the crowd, “We could have pretaped this whole thing and nobody would have cared, but we are doing this for a noble cause: To finally try to kill off traditional TV and put it out of it’s misery. In fact, if you listen hard you can hear Baby Boomers canceling the last cable subscription packages.”

Before that, U2’s Bono sang an opening about Rock.

Arsenio Hall followed Chieng with a joke about how Will Smith is going to get so mad tonight he’ll slap the TV off the wall.

This story is developing and will be updated….

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March 4, 2023
The Year of the Slap: Pop culture moments in 2022

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Taylor Swift was up. Elon Musk was in, out, in and maybe out again. Tom Cruise was back. BTS stepped aside, and so did Serena Williams, and Tom Brady too — oops, scratch that.

But the slap? The slap was everywhere.

Ok, so maybe it wasn’t on the level of a moon landing, or selection of a pope. But henceforth all you need say is “the slap” and people will know what you mean — that moment Will Smith smacked Chris Rock at the Oscars and a global audience said, “Wait, did that happen?” Even in the room itself — maybe especially in the room itself — there was a sense everyone had imagined it, which helps explain why things went on as normal, for a bit.

The pandemic was over, phew! Well, of course it wasn’t. But live entertainment pushed forward in 2022, with mask mandates dropping and people rushing to buy things like, oh, Taylor Swift tickets!

We’ll take any segue to mention Swift, who already had a big year in 2021, but just got bigger — heck, she broke Billboard records and then she broke Ticketmaster. (No word if she got her scarf back).

It was a year of celebrity #MeToo cases like Harvey Weinstein (again), R. Kelly (again), Kevin Spacey, Paul Haggis, Danny Masterson. And the Johnny Depp-Amber Heard defamation trial, its every excruciating turn captured on TV.

On the big screen, there were big comebacks. Mourning its dearly missed star, Chadwick Boseman, “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” was a box office triumph. James Cameron’s “Avatar” made a splashy December return.

Then there was Cruise, turning 60 in ’22 just like the Rolling Stones, swooping into Cannes with his most successful movie and showing, like those still-touring rockers, that when they tell you “The end is inevitable,” as they do in “Top Gun: Maverick,” you can always reply: “Maybe so, sir, but not today.”

Will audiences one day find Cruise – or the Stones, for that matter – too wrinkled and past the sell-by date? Maybe so, but not this year.

Our annual, totally selective journey through a year in pop culture:

JANUARY

It’s GOLDEN GLOBES time. But is a Globes with no telecast, boozy celebs or red carpet a Globes at all? The embattled Hollywood Foreign Press Association, reeling from stunning failures over diversity, holds a private event and plans a comeback next year. Hey, remember the original wardrobe malfunction? Well, JANET JACKSON says she and JUSTIN TIMBERLAKE have moved on, and so should we. The New York Times buys Wordle, and we’re all thinking in five-letter words (though W-O-R-D-L-E is six, just saying.) Meanwhile, it’s a month of loss, heading off a year of loss: pioneering Black actor, director and activist SIDNEY POITIER dies at 94.

FEBRUARY

What would a year in pop culture be without BRITNEY? Just months after her liberation from her restrictive conservatorship, Spears is reported to have signed a mammoth book deal, but at year’s end we’re still waiting for news. RIHANNA is pregnant! TOM BRADY retires! (Stay tuned, on that one.) TAYLOR watch: JAKE GYLLENHAAL speaks out, saying he really has nothing to do with that song.

MARCH

Quick, who wins Oscars this month? Well, “CODA” does, a feel-good drama with a largely deaf cast, and TROY KOTSUR becomes the first deaf actor to win an acting Oscar. Alas, all anyone can talk about is — you know. SMITH, who wins the best actor award not long after slapping Rock over a joke about his wife, Jada Pinkett Smith, won’t truly address the issue until the end of the year, so keep reading. KARDASHIAN watch: Kim K is declared legally single again in her ongoing divorce with YE, the rapper formerly known as KANYE WEST. And BRADY, retired for 40 days, says, “Never mind!”

APRIL

It’s GRAMMY time, and JON BATISTE wins big, taking five statuettes. The musician’s huge year will later include performing at the first state dinner of the Biden administration, for French President Emmanuel Macron. The next day Macron will meet with MUSK (thanks for the segue, Monsieur le President) who begins his acquisition of TWITTER this month, leading to untold — and still unfolding — changes at the social media giant.

MAY

So imagine you’re sipping cocktails at the MET GALA and a musician comes sauntering through, playing the melodica — of course it’s BATISTE, because the Met Gala’s that kind of crazy party. The biggest splash of the night, though, is KARDASHIAN, on the arm of boyfriend PETE DAVIDSON, wearing the same sequined, skin tight gown MARILYN MONROE wore to sing “Happy Birthday” to JFK in 1962. In movies, “Top Gun: Maverick” opens, the highest-grossing domestic debut in CRUISE’S career, and his first to surpass $100 million on opening weekend. HARRY STYLES fans rejoice! His album, “Harry’s House,” is here.

JUNE

Stunning news for the global fanbase of BTS as the K-pop supergroup announces it’s taking a break to focus on members’ solo projects. On the legal front, a Virginia jury hands DEPP a victory in his very messy libel case over allegations of domestic abuse, finding that former wife HEARD defamed him in a 2018 op-ed. On a happier note, Britney gets married….

JULY

Only one wedding, Britney? BENNIFER has two! Maybe what happens in Vegas usually stays in Vegas, but not when you have 227 million followers on Instagram. With a winking reference to being a “Sadie” (married lady) JENNIFER LOPEZ directs fans to her newsletter where she shares pics of her quickie wedding to BEN AFFLECK. “Love is beautiful,” she writes. “And it turns out love is patient.” Speaking of patience, fans of BEYONCÉ are rewarded for theirs with the release of her long-awaited “Renaissance,” her first solo album in six years.

AUGUST

So, we were saying … Bennifer’s second wedding, on Affleck’s compound in Georgia, is bigger and fancier. One wedding, one split: KARDASHIAN and DAVIDSON are no longer. In other summer news, the world remembers PRINCESS DIANA, whose shocking death happened 25 years ago, and whose life is being rehashed for a new generation in the current season of “The Crown.” Only days after the anniversary, that same Netflix series will pause production as a mark of respect for QUEEN ELIZABETH II as Britain — and the world — mourn the beloved monarch, who dies at age 96 after more than 70 years on the throne.

SEPTEMBER

Mounting political intrigue in Europe, and by that we mean, did spit fly at the Venice premiere of “Don’t Worry Darling”? Either way the movie, directed by OLIVIA WILDE and starring her boyfriend (alleged spitter STYLES), is saddled – or blessed? – with more than its share of extracurricular drama. At the EMMYS, behold SHERYL LEE RALPH, who wins for “Abbott Elementary” and schools the crowd on the power of dreams and self-belief. “This is what believing looks like,” she says. You know what else believing looks like? Rachel Berry from “Glee” – aka LEA MICHELE – at last getting to play Fanny Brice in “Funny Girl” on Broadway. In sports, with four rueful words that resonate with working moms everywhere, SERENA WILLIAMS says she’s stepping aside from tennis, because “something’s got to give.”

OCTOBER

The second HARVEY WEINSTEIN trial opens in Los Angeles. ADIDAS drops YE, part of a cascade of companies that will sever ties with the rapper over his antisemitic and other troubling comments. The MUSK era begins at TWITTER as the world’s richest man carries a sink into the office, to “let that sink in.” HEIDI KLUM’s Halloween costume is a slimy, glistening rain worm. But before the month worms away from us, let’s cede it to SWIFT for dropping her new album, “Midnights” (Spotify’s most-streamed album in a single day), then adding seven bonus tracks, then becoming the first artist to occupy all top 10 slots on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. Let THAT sink in! P.S. Celebrity divorce watch: BRADY and )GISELE BUNDCHEN split.

NOVEMBER

Did we say LAST month was Taylor Swift month? Well now, millions of eager fans crowd a presale for her much-awaited Eras Tour, resulting in crashes and endless waits. Ticketmaster cancels the general sale, citing insufficient stock. Multiple state attorneys general announce investigations. Takeaway: People want Taylor Swift tickets. At the multiplex, they also want their Wakanda. “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” meets the double challenge of following up one of the biggest blockbusters in history and losing its biggest star.

DECEMBER

Love ’em or hate ’em, here come HARRY and MEGHAN again, with a Netflix documentary watched very closely by royalty across the pond. Over at Twitter, MUSK says he’ll step down as CEO — after polling users — once he finds someone “foolish” enough to replace him. Cameron’s “AVATAR” sequel finally appears, 13 years after the original broke records, and yes, moviegoers flock to Pandora once again. And bringing the year full circle, SMITH emerges to promote his new film, “EMANCIPATION,” hoping people will forget about … what was it? … at least enough to check out the movie.

In this year of comebacks, will Smith’s be the biggest?

Check back with us in 2023.

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December 28, 2022
The Year of the Slap: Pop culture moments in 2022

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Taylor Swift was up. Elon Musk was in, out, and in. Tom Cruise was back. BTS stepped aside, and so did Serena Williams, and Tom Brady too — oops, scratch that.

But the slap? The slap was everywhere.

Ok, so maybe it wasn’t on the level of a moon landing, or selection of a pope. But henceforth all you need say is “the slap” and people will know what you mean — that moment Will Smith smacked Chris Rock at the Oscars and a global audience said, “Wait, did that happen?” Even in the room itself — maybe especially in the room itself — there was a sense that everyone had imagined it, which helps explain why things went on as normal, for a bit.

The pandemic was over in 2022, phew! Well, of course it wasn’t. But live entertainment pushed forward, with mask mandates dropping, and people rushing to buy things like, oh, Taylor Swift tickets!

We’ll take any segue to mention Swift, who already had a big year in 2021, but just got bigger — heck, she broke Billboard records and then she broke Ticketmaster. (No word if she got her scarf back).

It was a year of celebrity #MeToo cases like Harvey Weinstein (again), R. Kelly (again), Kevin Spacey, Paul Haggis, Danny Masterson. And the Johnny Depp-Amber Heard defamation trial, its every excruciating turn captured on TV.

On the big screen, there were big comebacks. Mourning its dearly missed star, Chadwick Boseman, “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” was a box office triumph. James Cameron’s “Avatar” planned a December return.

Then there was Tom Cruise, turning 60 in ’22, just like the Rolling Stones, swooping into Cannes with his most successful movie, and showing, like those still-touring rockers, that when they tell you “The end is inevitable,” as they do in “Top Gun: Maverick,” you can always reply “Maybe so, sir, but not today.”

Will audiences one day find Cruise – or the Stones, for that matter – too wrinkled and past the sell-by date? Maybe so, but not this year.

Our annual, totally selective journey through a year in pop culture:

JANUARY

It’s GOLDEN GLOBES time. But is a Globes with no telecast, boozy celebs or red carpet a Globes at all? The embattled Hollywood Foreign Press Association, reeling from stunning failures over diversity, holds a private event and plans a comeback next year. Hey, remember the original wardrobe malfunction? Well, JANET JACKSON says she and JUSTIN TIMBERLAKE have moved on, and so should we. The New York Times buys Wordle, and we’re all thinking in five-letter words (though W-O-R-D-L-E is six, just saying.) Meanwhile, it’s a month of loss, heading off a year of loss: pioneering Black actor, director and activist SIDNEY POITIER dies at 94.

FEBRUARY

What would a year in pop culture be without BRITNEY? Just months after her liberation from her restrictive conservatorship, Spears is reported to have signed a mammoth book deal, but at year’s end we’re still waiting for news. RIHANNA is pregnant! TOM BRADY retires! (Stay tuned, on that one.) TAYLOR watch: JAKE GYLLENHAAL speaks out, saying he really has nothing to do with that song, that it’s about an artist’s relationship with her fans — but fans shouldn’t be cyberbullying, either.

MARCH

Quick, who wins Oscars this month? Well, “CODA” does, a feel-good drama with a largely deaf cast, and TROY KOTSUR becomes the first deaf actor to win an acting Oscar. Alas, all anyone can talk about is — you know. SMITH, who wins the best actor award not long after slapping Rock over a joke about his wife, Jada Pinkett Smith, won’t truly address the issue until the end of the year, so keep reading. KARDASHIAN watch: Kim K is declared legally single again in her ongoing divorce with YE, the rapper formerly known as KANYE WEST. And BRADY, retired for 40 days, says, “Never mind!”

APRIL

It’s GRAMMY time, and JON BATISTE wins big, taking five statuettes. The musician’s huge year will later include performing at the first state dinner of the Biden administration, for French President Emmanuel Macron. The next day Macron will meet with MUSK (thanks for the segue, Monsieur le President) who begins his acquisition of TWITTER this month, leading to untold – and still unfolding – changes at the social media giant.

MAY

So imagine you’re sipping cocktails at the MET GALA and a musician comes sauntering through, playing the melodica — of course it’s BATISTE, because the Met Gala’s that kind of crazy party. The biggest splash of the night, though, is KARDASHIAN, on the arm of boyfriend PETE DAVIDSON, wearing the same sequined, skin tight gown MARILYN MONROE wore to sing “Happy Birthday” to JFK in 1962. In movies, “Top Gun: Maverick” opens, the highest-grossing domestic debut in CRUISE’S career, and his first to surpass $100 million on opening weekend. HARRY STYLES fans rejoice! His album, “Harry’s House,” is here.

JUNE

Stunning news for the global fanbase of BTS as the K-pop supergroup announces it’s taking a break to focus on members’ solo projects. On the legal front, a Virginia jury hands DEPP a victory in his very messy libel case over allegations of domestic abuse, finding that former wife HEARD defamed him in a 2018 op-ed. On a happier note, Britney gets married….

JULY

Only one wedding, Britney? BENNIFER has two! Maybe what happens usually stays in Vegas, but not when you have 227 million followers on Instagram. With a winking reference to being a “Sadie” (married lady) JENNIFER LOPEZ directs fans to her newsletter where she shares pics of her quickie wedding to BEN AFFLECK. “Love is beautiful,” she writes. “And it turns out love is patient.” Speaking of patience, fans of BEYONCÉ are rewarded for theirs, with the release of her long-awaited seventh studio album, “Renaissance,” her first solo album in six years.

AUGUST

So, we were saying …. Bennifer’s second wedding , on Affleck’s compound in Georgia, is bigger and fancier. One wedding, one split: KARDASHIAN and DAVIDSON are no longer. In other summer news, the world remembers Princess Diana, whose shocking death in a car crash happened 25 years ago, and whose life is being rehashed for a new generation in the current season of “The Crown.” And only days later, that same Netflix series will pause production briefly as a mark of respect for Queen Elizabeth II as Britain — and the world — mourn the beloved monarch, who dies at age 96 after more than 70 years on the throne.

SEPTEMBER

Mounting political intrigue in Europe, and by that we mean … did spit fly at the Venice premiere of “Don’t Worry Darling”? Either way the movie, directed by OLIVIA WILDE and starring her boyfriend (alleged spitter STYLES), is saddled – or blessed? – with more than its share of extracurricular drama. At the EMMYS, behold SHERYL LEE RALPH, who wins for “Abbott Elementary” and schools the crowd on the power of dreams and self-belief. “This is what believing looks like,” she says. You know what else believing looks like? Rachel Berry from “Glee” – aka LEA MICHELE – at last getting to play Fanny Brice in “Funny Girl” on Broadway. In sports, with four rueful words that resonate with working moms everywhere, SERENA WILLIAMS says she’s stepping aside from tennis, because: “Something’s got to give.”

OCTOBER

The second HARVEY WEINSTEIN trial opens in Los Angeles. ADIDAS drops YE, part of a cascade of companies that will sever ties with the rapper over his antisemitic and other troubling comments. The MUSK era begins at TWITTER as the world’s richest man carries a sink into the office, to “let that sink in.” HEIDI KLUM’s Halloween costume is a slimy, glistening rain worm. But before the month worms away from us, let’s cede it to SWIFT for dropping her new album, “Midnights” (Spotify’s most-streamed album in a single day), then adding seven bonus tracks, then becoming the first artist to occupy all top 10 slots on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. Let THAT sink in! P.S. Celebrity divorce watch: BRADY and wife GISELE BUNDCHEN split.

NOVEMBER

Did we say LAST month was Taylor Swift month? Well now, millions of eager fans crowd a presale for her much-awaited Eras Tour, resulting in crashes and endless waits. Ticketmaster cancels the general sale, citing insufficient stock. Multiple state attorneys general announce investigations. Takeaway: People want Taylor Swift tickets. At the multiplex, they also want their Wakanda. “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” meets the double challenge of following up one of the biggest blockbusters in history and losing its biggest star.

DECEMBER

Love ‘em or hate ’em, here come HARRY and MEGHAN again, with a Netflix “documentary” being watched very, very closely by royalty across the pond. Cameron’s “AVATAR” sequel finally appears, 13 years after the original broke records. Will viewers flock to Pandora once again? And bringing the year full circle, SMITH emerges to promote his new film, “EMANCIPATION,” and hoping people will forget about … what was it? … at least enough to check out the movie.

In this year of comebacks, will Smith’s be the biggest?

Check back with us in 2023.

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December 25, 2022