Chris Rock vs. WOKE culture in Netflix special?



If you’ve been keeping up with pop culture, you’ve likely heard of the controversy Chris Rock has stirred up with his Netflix special, "Selective Outrage."

Lauren Chen, host of "Pseudo Intellectual," covered the special last week. Chris Rock has been bashed by the left and praised by the right, but Chen suggests a more tempered approach.

“If you ask me, I watched the entire special, it’s neither as right-wing or as left-wing as people are saying,” Chen said.

“Yes, Chris Rock does make fun of what you might call ‘social justice warriors,’” Chen continued. "He has some … jokes about being triggered and offensive … but, overall, when you actually look at the jokes Chris Rock is making, he is still very much toeing the left-wing party line.”

Noting that Rock took aim at cancel culture in his special, Chen points out that that does not mean he is conservative. In fact, he even calls Republicans liars at points in the show.

However, Rock did have several memorable moments, taking shots at Meghan Markle, abortion, and Will Smith.

Rock knocked Meghan Markle’s entitled and hyper-offended attitude. He wondered why she was complaining so much when she seemed to have won the “light-skinned lottery” because, you know, she’s a member of the royal family now.

Chen then touched on Rock’s abortion jokes, saying, “The core of [the] jokes was that ‘yeah abortion is evil and killing a baby, but it should still be ok.’ And I think it’s important to reiterate that Chris Rock said abortion should still be ok.”

Finally, Chen discussed the "slap heard around the world." Of course, everyone wanted to hear Rock’s perspective on the infamous Oscar’s slap he received from Will Smith.

“Words hurt,” Rock said. “Anybody who says words hurt has never been punched in the face.”

Chen discussed Will and Jada Smith’s relationship dynamic and how the slap was likely fueled by suspected emotional abuse.

“Jada Pinkett is a cheater and I would say there's definitely good cause to say an emotionally abusive woman,” Chen said.

Chen concluded with some final thoughts.

“This special is not as funny … as something like Dave Chapelle would put out, but it’s also not … groundbreaking … Chris Rock did not go far enough to make it something novel … If you’re someone on the right thinking he’s our guy, he’s not.”

Watch the full video below:


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Chris Rock vs WOKE Culture in Netflix Special?

Chris Rock vs WOKE Culture in Netflix Special?

Columnist claims 'white outrage' over Will Smith's Oscars slap is 'downright racist,' 'rooted in anti-blackness'



It was only a matter of time before race ideology made its way into the Will Smith-Chris Rock Oscars slap discussion.

In an op-ed published by the Guardian on Tuesday, freelance culture writer Tayo Bero lashed out at Hollywood personalities and internet critics alike for what she viewed as an outsized, ultimately race-fueled condemnation of Smith.

The "King Richard" actor was under fire Sunday and Monday for open-palm smacking comedian and Academy Awards host Rock live on stage Sunday night after he made a joke about Smith's wife Jada Pinkett Smith's shaved head. Pinkett Smith reportedly suffers from complications with the auto-immune disorder alopecia, which causes baldness.

The joke didn't sit well with Smith, who resorted to violence and shouting profanities in objection.

The criticism of Smith came from many angles and personalities, and had many layers — not the least of which being the Smiths' public disclosure of marital issues in recent years and how much that may have impacted the actor's reaction.

But according to Bero, it all spawned from one common thread: Racism.

"White outrage about Will Smith's slap is rooted in anti-Blackness," Bero wrote. "It's inequality in plain sight."

"Most people agree the slap shouldn’t have happened. But there’s something that feels precious at best, and downright racist at worst, about white people’s reaction to the now-infamous smack," she continued, making reference to certain overreactions in the moments following the incident.

Those instances included Hollywood director Judd Apatow's since-deleted tweet in which he claimed Smith "could have killed" Rock, radio host Howard Stern's comparison of Smith to former President Donald Trump, and "white women on Twitter somehow decid[ing] that Smith’s actions meant he must be beating his wife."

"It would seem that there’s a layer of hyper-violence that’s being projected on to Smith simply because he is a Black man who was defending his Black wife," Bero assessed.

She would later rebuke white audiences for consuming violence against black people on screen to an almost fetishistic degree while being "so distraught about an open-palm slap," arguing "this kind of performative pearl-clutching is only ever reserved for Black men who mess up."

Bero also took issue with the repeated "punching down on Black women," incriminating black male comedians for their frequent participation, a line of critique that has been written elsewhere.

Writing for Forbes on Monday, senior diversity, equity, and inclusion contributor Janice Gassam Asare asked, "Why are jokes always at the expense of Black women?"

"America’s favorite public sport is berating Black women; it has become social currency," Asare added. "There is a long history of Black women and femmes being dishonored, disrespected, denigrated, and degraded, especially within Hollywood."

Smith has since apologized to Rock and the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences for his actions.

The Academy initially offered little in response to the incident, allowing Smith to take the stage ten minutes later to receive his Best Actor award for his role in "King Richard." In the film, he played Richard Williams, the father of tennis stars Venus and Serena Williams.

However, in a statement on Monday, the Academy said it is reviewing the incident to see if disciplinary action should be taken.