‘The View’ Weighs In on Chris Rock’s Netflix Special, Addressing Will Smith Slap: “He Kept Her Name Out of His Mouth”

The View is weighing in on Chris Rock’s Netflix special where he addresses Will Smith’s Oscar night slap.

During Chris Rock: Selective Outrage, which aired live Saturday on the streaming platform, the comedian covered a range of topics, but the most anticipated one was saved for last as he slammed Smith for the infamous confrontation from the 2022 Academy Awards telecast, dragging his wife, Jada Pinkett Smith, and targeting the couple’s marital issues.

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“He responded on a $40 million Netflix special, which I think is brilliant,” Sunny Hostin started off by saying during Monday’s episode of the daytime talk show. “That was his truth, that’s how he experienced it.”

Ana Navarro seconded that statement, saying, “He’s entitled to say his truth. I’m even happier that he’s making money out of it. I think the timing has everything to do with the Oscars that are next week and the fact that it’s a year from now. I think the show was funny as hell.”

While the hosts mostly praised Rock for many of his jokes, some thought certain topics should have been off-limits. But Navarro explained that “he’s a comedian, so we’re not going to agree with everything, but baby, laugh all the way to the bank.”

“By the way, he kept her name out of his mouth [during the special],” she added jokingly. “He called her all sorts of other things, but he didn’t say ‘Jada.'”

Whoopi Goldberg concluded the discussion by also commending the comedian, saying, “He’s not afraid of saying how he feels.”

“His ability to say what he sees is great and, you know what, this situation is never going to find a really good way to calm down. It’s just not,” she added. “There’s no justification for what happened.”

Goldberg, who’s a board of governors member for the Academy, has previously addressed one of the unforgettable nights in Oscar history. Before the Academy announced it had banned Smith for 10 years from attending the Oscars and other Academy events, Goldberg theorized what may have provoked the actor’s behavior at the time, saying, “I think it was a lot of stuff probably built up. … I think he had one of those moments where it was just like, ‘Just stop.’ I get it, not everybody acts the way we would like them to under pressure. Some people just snap. He snapped.”

Chris Rock: Selective Outrage is available to stream on Netflix.

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