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It’s been more than two years since Chris Rock ended up at the receiving end of The Slap Heard Around the World courtesy of Will Smith, and the comedian is reportedly less than thrilled the actor seemingly decided to make light of it in the new Bad Boys movie.
By now, I have a hard time imagining there are many people who are unaware of what transpired when Chris Rock poked fun at Jada Pinkett Smith during the Academy Awards only for Will Smith to react by striding onstage to slap him before strongly advising him to keep his wife’s name out of his mouth.
Smith (who awkwardly accepted the Best Actor statue he won for his performance in King Richard shortly after The Slap transpired) was ultimately hit with a 10-year ban from the ceremony and has kept a fairly low profile since the incident while appearing in a grand total of two movies.
The first, Emancipation, had already been filmed at the time of The Slap, which means Bad Boys: Ride or Die was the first project he got involved with after it went down.
The fourth installment in the Bad Boys franchise—which has grossed close to $300 million since hitting theaters earlier this month—features an improvised scene where Martin Lawrence slaps his co-star multiple times, and it’s apparently rubbed Rock the wrong way.
According to a source who spoke to Hot97, Rock views the scene as a “pretty cheap stunt” he interpreted as “Will making light of a horrific situation,” adding:
“He suffered as much as Will has and now Will has turned it into a funny scene in his movie. As far as Chris is concerned, it’s more proof that Will’s a total piece of work who deserves all the crap he’s gotten.”
It’s easy to understand why the legendary comedian isn’t thrilled with the reference, but at the same time, he’s probably going to need to accept there’s only so much he can do to control the narrative surrounding the infamous moment.