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Revisiting When the Fresh Prince of Bellends (Gob)smacked Chris Rock
The botched bad boys reenactment of the 94th Academy Awards
In the 1999 classic “The Anthem” by Sway & King Tech featuring Chino XL, the latter delivered the line, “You’re wack like Will Smith, your rhyme-style is pansy,” clearly throwing shade at Smith’s simplistic, gummy-bear lyrics. Unfortunately for Smith, his 2022 “pimp-slap” also left much to be desired and has provided the internet with meme material for decades to come.
On the contrary, after being at the palm-end of said slap, Chris Rock, who barely skipped a beat in his performance, left a mostly honorable impression on the world.
Smith’s slap didn’t just misfire. It backfired, too.
Let’s dissect this spectacle.
The Joke That Broke the Prince
As most of us know by now, albeit for the wrong reasons, that tired display with the mini gold figurines aired two weekends ago.
You know that annual self-validation orgy the Academy throws for its Botox-injected, bubble-dwelling peers clad in garments worth more than your average Joe’s yearly gross salary? Wherein a selection of nominees, voted for by their own, gets to be the greatest of the most prestigious people on…
