The 2022 Oscars was anything but normal. Apart from jaw-dropping performances and honoring well-deserved winners, the event took a whole new turn with the whole Chris Rock-Will Smith fiasco. Suddenly, it had become the talk of the town, and for a very good reason. NBA legend Shaquille O’Neal too gave his two cents on the controversial matter. Amid all these, one question remained unanswered…why didn’t Rock do something about it? It has been a year since the incident took place and the ‘Grown Ups’ actor has finally opened up about his lack of response.

When Chris Rock made the ‘G.I. Jane’ joke on Jada Pinkett Smith, no one, not the audience, not the crew, not even Rock himself had anticipated the violent response from Will Smith. Of course, it probably had something to do with the fact that just a few seconds earlier, the ‘Bad Boys’ actor was laughing at the joke himself. However, Smith’s mood shifted moments later. He then walked up to the stage and delivered a smack on Rock’s face, before returning to his seat and warning Rock about taking his wife’s again.

Chris Rock claps back at Will Smith

A year after the controversial Oscars saga, Chris Rock revealed the reason he kept mum after the ‘humiliation’ he faced on the global platform. The actor/comedian recently made history by running a live-streamed Netflix stand-up event named ‘Chris Rock: Selective Outrage’. In the hour-long affair, Rock touched on several matters before finally getting on the Will Smith fiasco.

Before ending the show, Rock took a trip down memory lane and said, “Everybody f**king knows. Yes, It happened! I got smacked like a year ago. F**king last week, I’ve got smacked in the fucking Oscars by this motherf**ker and people like, ‘Did it hurt?’ It still hurts!”

Diving deeper into the matter, Rock took a jab at Smith and his wife Jada with a series of comments that further cracked up the audience. However, Rock also clarified that he loved Smith and has always rooted for him.

Finally to answer the question that millions of people had in mind, Rock began by saying, “A lot of people thought, ‘Chris! How come you didn’t do nothing back? How come you didn’t do nothing back that night?’ Cause I got parents, that’s why. Cause I was raised.”

“I got parents. And you know what my parents told me? Don’t fight in front of white people,” the veteran comic added.

As soon as the words came out of Rock’s mouth, he dropped the mic and the crowd erupted in cheers for the Grammy award winner. Indeed, Rock took his sweet time to talk about his response to the slap. However, Hall of Famer Shaquille O’Neal had a swift and straightforward answer to Smith’s violent approach.

READ MORE – Shaquille O’Neal Slams Jada Smith’s “Apology” to Chris Rock with 7 Word Advice for “His Man” Will Smith

Shaquille O’Neal wouldn’t have stood still like Rock

In a previous episode of The Big Podcast with Shaq, Nischelle Turner asked co-hosts Shaq and Spice Adams a rather interesting question. As the trio talked about the Oscars drama, Turner asked her co-hosts what their response would have been if they had been in Rock’s shoes. The Big Aristotle commended Rock for having a ‘Martin Luther King-like mentality’ and maintaining peace.

However, talking about what his response would have been, Shaq said, “I would have told people to lock the door. Nobody leaving until I get a hold of him. If Denzel and Tyler Perry get in the way, they gonna get these hands. Ain’t no way you smack me, turn around, and go sit back down.”

Well, Shaq made his thoughts clear. What would you have done in Chris Rock’s position? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section!

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